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Oakland 


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Forest  Endowment  of  Pacific  Slope 


JOHN    GILL  LEMMON 

Author   of    "West-American    Cone-bearers:"    "Oaks   of   Pacific 
Slope,"    Etc. 


Some  Elements  of  Forestry  'with  Suggestions 

BY 

MRS.  LEMMON 


First  Series 

THE  CONE-WEARERS 


Price  50  Cents          f  OF  THE 

Liberal  Discount  to  Teachers,  I  (bra^  f*J  |  VERSIT  Y 

and  the  Trade 


OAKLAND,  CALIFORNIA 


COPYRIGHTED,   1902 

By    MRS.   JOHN   GILL    LEMMON 

All  rights  reserved 


of 


DEDICATION 

To  Mrs.  Ellanor  H,  Stetson 
My  comrade  husband's  friend  and  mine  of 

many  years 

this  booklet,  for  all  tree-lovers, 
is  affectionately  dedicated 

by 
Mrs.  John  Gill  Lemmon 


109102 


PREFACE. 

"Some  Hints  upon  Forestry,"  issued  for  the 
California  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  in 
1900,  contained  the  following  suggested  top- 
ics for  study  and  discussion: — 

1.  Forest    trees,    their    names,    appearance, 
habits,  manner  of  growth,  uses,  etc. 

2.  Distribution,    where    found    and    reasons 
why  so  located,  nature  of  soils,  exposure,  etc. 

3.  Enemies  of  trees,  animate  and  inanimate, 
including  man,  their  worst  enemy. 

4.  Effects  of  forests  upon  climate,  conserva- 
tion  of   moisture,   preventing  both   floods   and 
drought. 

5.  Reforestation,    its   value   both   economical 
and     esthetic,     supplying     man     with     needed 
materials  for  his  development,  and  preventing 
his   deterioration. 

6.  Necessary    attention    and   education,    then 
legislation  and  practical  application,  etc. 

In  harmony  with  these  brief  hints,  I  invited 
one   with   whom   I    have    studied   the   trees   in 
their  homes  for  over  twenty  years  to  elaborate     I— - 
the    first  .of   the    above    hints.     The   result    is     : 
this  booklet— "How  to  Tell  the  Trees"— with 
"Matchless   Forest   Endowment"  for  introduc- 
tion ;    the   final   pages   are   devoted   to   a   briet 
presentation   of   forestry,  as  in   part  embodied 
in  "Some  Hints." 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  profusely-illus- 
trated little  packet  of  leaves  will  be  welcomed 
by  all  tree  lovers,  and  prove  helpful  in  their 
becoming  better  acquainted  with  man's  best 
friend  on  earth,  the  bounteous  forest. 

MRS.  JOHN  GILL  LEMMON. 
5985  Telegraph  Ave.,  Oakland,  Cal., 

June,  1902. 


CHIPS. 

The  quivering  forest  groans, 

And  tosses   her   arms  on   high, 
And    struggles,   and    writhes,    and    moans, 

Like  a  soul   in  agony; 
Till  her  high,   imperial  crown, 

In   cowering  pain   and   fear, 
At   the  pitiless   presence  near 

Bends  blindly  and  wretchedly  down. 

—Mrs,  A.  D.  T.  Whitney. 


Thou  art  weighed  and  wanting,  O  nation  ; 

The  writing  is   seen   on  the  wall  ! 
With  the  scepter  and  crown  of  the  forest 

The  kingdoms  of  men   will   fall. 

—  Lilian  H.  Shucy. 


He  plants  the  forest's  heritage, 
The   harvest   of   the   coming  age, 
The   joy  that   unborn   eyes  shall   see,  — 
These  things  he  plants  who  plants  a  tree. 
^—The  Century. 


UNIVERSITY 

EOREST  ENDOWMENT 

or  paciric  SLOPE 

Particularly  California 


MOTHER  NATURE  is  wonderfully  lavish  with  her 
favors  towards  some  countries,  and  as  strangely  nig- 
gardly to  others. 

No  more  striking  proof  of  this  fact  is  found  than 
that  of  the  distribution  of  the  forests  over  the  land- 
surface  of  the  earth.  It  is  but  little  understood 
that  the  most  wonderful  and  valuable  forest  known 
is  that  of  Northwest  America. 

This  forest  possesses  more  kinds  or  species  of 
resinous- wooded,  needle-leaved,  cone-bearing  trees 
than  any  equal  area  in  the  world,  and  these  trees 
are  either  the  largest  in  dimensions,  or  they  bear 
the  largest  fruits,  called  cones,  that  the  earth  has 
produced. 

This  matchless  combination  of  superlative  quali- 
ties has  been  bestowed  by  circumstances  and  forces 
so  wonderful  as  to  give  the  phenomenon  the  char- 
acter of  a  distinct  gift  or  local  endowment. 

Passing  by  the  non-resinous,  broad-leaved  trees, 
of  which  there  is  a  liberal  allowance,  the  resinous- 
wooded,  cone-bearing  trees  of  the  Pacific  Slope 


number  14  genera  or  families,  comprising  70  species 
or  kinds  of  trees — 13  of  the  genera  with  40  species 
being  in  California. 

Of  these  species  27  are  pines,  2  are  larches,  5  are 
spruces,  2  are  hemlock  spruces,  2  are  false  hemlock 
spruces,  10  are  firs,  2  are  redwoods,  2  are  American 
cedars,  7  are  cypresses,  9  are  junipers,  and  2  are 
yews. 

ENORMOUS   SIZE   OF   TREES   AN£>   CONES. 

Three  of  our  pines — the  great  Sugar,  the  Yellow, 
and  the  Jeffrey  Pine — all  of  them  being  very  val- 
uable trees,  are  also  the  largest  trees  of  the  family, 
often  attaining  a  height  of  220  feet,  with  a  diameter 
of  10-12  feet — no  pines  of  foreign  countries  attain 
one-half  of  these  dimensions. 

Five  of  our  pines  bear  longer  or  heavier  cones, 
with  larger  seeds  than  any  found  elsewhere,  the 
cones  of  the  very,  valuable  Sugar  Pine  being  15-20 
inches  long,  while  those  of  the  Coulter  Pine  often 
weigh  8-10  pounds,  the  Gray  Pine  3-4  pounds,  the 
Torrey  Pine  2  pounds,  and  the  Jeffrey  Pine  y2-i 
pounds,  while  the  largest  cones  outside  of  Cali- 
fornia scarcely  exceed  6  inches  and  the  heaviest 
rarely  weigh  i  pound. 

Two  of  our  spruces  attain  enormous  dimensions 
— the  very  beautiful  and  valuable  Douglas  Spruce 
of  the  Sierra  and  northward  becomes  300-450  feet 
high,  with  a  trunk  8-12  feet  thick.  The  great 
Tideland  Spruce  of  the  north  coast  is  but  little  less 
in  dimensions,  while  the  cone  of  the  Big-cone 
Hemlock  Spruce  of  the  San  Bernardino  Mountains 
js  5-7  inches  long  and  3-4  inches  thick  when  ripe 

(2) 


and  expanded — these  dimensions  far  excelling  any 
foreign  spruce. 

Five  of  our  firs,  the  Red-bark,  the  White-bark, 
and  the  Shasta  firs  of  California,  and  the  Grand 
and  Noble  firs  of  the  region  northward,  become 
two  or  three  times  as  large  as  any  eastern  or  for- 
eign fir,  being  often  200-300  feet  high,  12-18  feet 
in  diameter,  with  cones  6-8  inches  long. 

Our  two  world-renowned  redwoods — the  Coast 
Redwood  and  the  vSierra  Big  Tree,  rising  to  the 
height  of  300-320  feet  and  enlarging,  while  yet 
young,  to  a  diameter  of  20-35  feet  and  growing  for 
3,000-5,000  years — are  not  approached  in  grand 
proportions  and  regal  majesty  elsewhere.  And 
the  cones  of  one  of  our  redwoods — the  Sierra  Big 
Tree — though  small  as  compared  with  our  pine 
cones,  are  yet,  doubtless,  the  monsters  of  their  race, 
the  largest  being  the  size  of  a  hen's  egg,  while  the 
largest  cone  found  in  connection  with  fossil  re- 
mains of  the  twenty- five  extinct  species  do  not 
exceed  the  size  of  a  nutmeg. 

So  with  the  2-3  inch  cones  of  our  Alpine  Hem- 
lock Spruce,  the  i-inch  cone  of  Incense  Cedar,  the 
i^-inch  cone  of  the  Monterey  Cypress,  the  y%- 
inch  berry  of  the  California  Juniper,  and  the  Cali- 
fornia False  Nutmeg,  all  the  largest  cones  of  their 
respective  families. 

WHY   THIS    FAVORITISM? 

This  prodigality  in  number  and  size  extends  to 
other  vegetable  growths.  Our  oaks  are  numerous 
and  often  large,  with  the  largest  acorns  and  cups 
known.  One  of  our  maples  bears  leaves  6-10 

(3) 


inches  across,  while  the  little  popgun  elder  of  the 
East  is  supplanted  here  by  a  species  1 2-20  inches 
in  diameter. 

Most  of  the  trees  mentioned  are  indigenous  to 
California  and  three-fourths  of  them  are  found 
only  in  that  state.  Why  this  great  prodigality  of 
Nature  in  behalf  of  the  Pacific  Slope,  and  espe- 
cially of  little  California? 

The  solution  of  this  problem  involves  a  brief 
discussion  of  certain  controlling  factors. 

At  the  outset  we  may  observe  that  an  impassable 
climatic  barrier  is  set  up  at  present,  by  Nature, 
preventing  migration  north  and  south.  The  Torrid 
Zone,  in  which  no  resinous  trees  can  grow  except 
on  high  peaks,  separates  the  world's  forests  into 
unequal  and  very  different  floras. 

The  Southern  Hemisphere  is  the  home  of  the 
Araucaria,  the  Eucalyptus  and  the  Acacia,  while  in 
the  Northern  Hemisphere  are  found — in  addition 
to  the  hosts  of  broad-leaved,  non-resinous  trees, 
such  as  oak,  ash,  hickory,  etc. — all  of  the  large 
families  of  pine,  larch,  cedar,  spruce,  and  fir,  with 
the  redwood,  cypress,  and  juniper;  the  distribution 
of  these  trees  across  the  two  continents,  however,  is 
very  unequal. 

DISPARITY   OF   AREAS    AND   DISTRIBUTION. 

The  northern  part  of  the  eastern  continent — 
Eurasia — is  approximately  9,000  miles  across. 
North  America  is  but  3,000.  We  would  naturally 
expiect,  for  instance,  three  times  as  many  pines  in 
Eurasia  as  in  America.  Just  the  reverse  is  the 
case.  Of  the  80  species  of  known  pines  only  20 

(4) 


are  indigenous  to  Kurasia  while  60  are  flourishing 
in  America. 

Again,  the  Pacific  Slope  region,  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  the  Pacific  shore,  is  about  i  ,000  miles, 
one-third  of  the  distance  across,  yet  it  has  40  out 
of  the  60  American  species,  15  being  in  Mexico  and 
25  in  the  western  United  States,  with  20  of  these 
in  California,  a  narrow  strip  of  coast  only  800  miles 
long  by  150  wide,  yet  containing  as  many  pines  as 
all  Eurasia! 

Now  if  the  distribution  was  equal,  Eurasia  hav- 
ing 60  pines  and  North  America  20,  the  Pacific 
Slope,  being  one-third  of  America,  would  be  en- 
titled to  but  6%  species,  and  little  California, 
which  embraces  about  one-tenth  of  the  Pacific 
Slope,  would  have  little  more  than  half  a  chance  to 
get  one  species! 

This  excessive  prodigality  of  Nature  in  favor  of 
the  Pacific  Slope  and  especially  the  California  part 
of  it,  is  due  to  a  combination  of  factors,  chief  of 
which  are  the  contours  of  continents,  the  trend  of 
principal  mountain  ranges,  the  behavior  of  certain 
oceanic  and  atmospheric  currents,  the  alternate 
elevation  and  depression  of  continental  areas,  to- 
gether with  the  ability  of  all  these  factors  to 
modify  the  effects  of  certain  crucial  climatic 
periods,  called — 

THE   ICE   AGE    AND   THE   THERMAL   AGE. 

The  phenomenon  of  hot  and  cold  periods  in 
the  earth's  history  compelling  the  migration,  the 
change  of  location  of  the  entire  organic  world — 
the  kingdoms  of  the  animals  and  plants — is  a 

(5) 


much  discussed  and  controverted  topic.  Seven 
theories  have  been  presented  from  time  to  time, 
accounting  for  these  important  epochs,  chief  of 
which  is  the  very  interesting — 

ASTRONOMICAL  THEORY. 

This  theory,  first  presented  by  Mr.  Croll,  and  en- 
dorsed by  Professor  Geikie  and  many  other  English 
geologists,  "  attributes  the  Glacial  Age  to  the  com- 
bined influence  of  precession  of  equinoxes  and 
secular  changes  in  the  eccentricity  of  the  earth's 
orbit,"  whereby  the  seasons,  summer  and  winter, 
would  have  a  disparity  of  nearly  five  weeks  instead 
of  one  week,  as  at  present:  this  disparity,  it  is 
claimed,  would  produce  Glacial  and  Thermal 
Ages  alternately,  every  21,000  years. 

However,  Professor  Le  Conte,  America's  most 
renowned  geologist,  controverts  this  theory,  in 
part,  quoting  from  many  authorities,  showing  that 
but  one  Glacial  Age  can  be  proven.  Referring  to 
the  researches  of  Professor  Wallace  and  others  he 
asserts  that  the  phenomenon  is  the  result  of  several 
agencies — astronomical,  geological,  and  geograph- 
ical— producing  a  severe  Glacial  Age  of  great 
length,  with  two  cumulative  periods  of  greatest 
severity  and  a  Sub-Thermal  period  between;  the 
Age  commencing  about  240,000  years  ago,  continu- 
ing 160,000  years,  and  ending  80,600  years  ago. 

GREAT   DESTRUCTION    BY   COLD. 

During  this  Glacial  Age  the  plants  were  driven 
slowly,  generation  after  generation,  a  few  feet  at  a 
time,  down  across  the  North  Temperate  Zone,  by 

(6) 


a  world-wide  sheet  of  ice,  to  be  as  slowly  driven 
back  by  waves  of  tropic  heat. 

In  this  double  migration,  owing  to  the  configura- 
tion of  continents  and  mountain  ranges,  most  of 
the  plants  were  destroyed,  only  a  few  vestiges  of 
the  post-glacial  families  being  extant,  to-day,  gath- 
ered here  and  there  upon  the  plains  or  stranded 
upon  the  mountains. 

The  means  and  manner  of  this  destruction  are 
most  interesting.  The  continents  of  both  the  old 
and  new  world  are  greatly  expanded  at  the  north, 
while  the  southern  portions  are  attenuated  to  nar- 
row peninsulas. 

These  configurations  give  to  the  North  Temper- 
ate Zone  its  greatly  dominant  character,  having 
most  of  the  existing  families,  while  the  peninsulas 
are  sparsely  furnished. 

The  Eurasian  mountain  ranges  are  mostly  trans- 
verse, like  the  Alps,  Himalayas,  and  Thian-Chan 
Mountains,  forming  barriers  to  the  progress  of 
plants;  while  North- American  ranges  are  nearly 
longitudinal,  permitting  the  plants  to  escape 
southward,  during  a  Glacial  Age,  and  return 
during  a  Thermal  one. 

There  is  much  evidence  found  as  fossils  in  the 
rock  strata,  that  an  abundant  flora  of  monster  trees 
once  occupied  the  Arctic  regions,  similar  on  the 
two  continents,  owing  to  connections  then  existing 
or  to  nearness  of  extremities. 

MANNER   OF    THIS    DESTRUCTION. 

The  formation  of  an  ice-cap  at  the  pole  and  of 
snow  and  ice  deposits  on  the  summits  of  mountains 
lower  down  in  latitude,  drove  the  plants  down 

(7) 


from  the  northern  plains,  and  down  from  the 
mountainsides  to  form  vast  hordes  of  fugitives 
hastening  to  southern  plains. 

This  hegira  continuing  as  the  sheet  of  ice  grew 
and  plowed  its  glacier  beds  slowly  down  to  median 
latitudes  of  Europe  and  Asia,  the  entire  members 
of  many  families  were  overtaken  on  the  northern 
side  of  the  mountain  ranges  and  frozen  out; 
others,  passing  between  the  ends  of  the  ranges, 
reached  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  and 
the  Indian  Ocean,  and  were  then  and  there 
destroyed,  a  few  only  escaping  by  the  narrow, 
devious  Isthmus  of  Suez  into  Africa,  while  others 
huddled  upon  the  three  peninsulas  of  Arabia, 
Hindustan,  and  Malacca. 

On  the  Western  Continent  a  great  portion  of  the 
plants  in  their  flight  came  down  unobstructed,  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  to  be  caught  and  frozen  there, 
a  few  eastern  families  escaped  on  the  peninsula  of 
Florida,  while  the  greater  part  of  the  western 
plants  ran  down  along  the  plateau  of  Mexico  into 
Central  America,  and  perhaps  finally  crossed  on 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien  into  South  America. 

GREATER   DESTRUCTION   BY   HEAT. 

Following  the  Glacial  came  a  Thermal  Age,  with 
contrary  effects,  yet  with  more  destructive  results. 
The  ice  melts  on  the  southern  vefge  of  the  ponder- 
ous ice  cover,  allowing  the  plants  to  return,  timidly 
seeking  the  newly-emptied  glacier  beds.  Soon 
after,  the  flood- water  sinking  into  the  mountain- 
sides, the  brown  earth,  becoming  vivified,  invites 
the  grasses  and  flowers  to  new-made  homes,  while 

(8) 


sunny  parterres  beckon  to  the  spying  trees,  prom- 
ising centuries  of  occupation — if  they  can  stand 
the  climate. 

The  rising  heat  rolling  in  waves  from  the  south, 
nearer  and  nearer,  urges  on  the  lagging  columns, 
adding  the  necessity  of  avoiding  death  to  the 
attraction  of  better  homes. 

But  the  universal  return  of  plants  from  the  south, 
was  prosecuted  under  vastly  different,  more  de- 
structive conditions  than  those  of  the  northern 
flight.  The  plants  on  the  return  trip  were  attracted 
northward  along  the  cool  plains,  and  also,  some  of 
them  upward  on  the  mountainsides,  for  it  is  the 
same  thing  in  effect,  to  ascend  a  mountain  for 
cooler  weather  as  to  journey  northward. 

Now  the  first  elevations  beside  a  valley  are 
usually  low  ones,  foot-hills,  outlying  ridges  or 
higher  spurs.  The  plants  that  ascended  these 
elevations,  as  the  heat  came  on  and  proved  too 
severe  for  their  constitutions,  were  shriveled  and 
burned  then  and  there— the  last  battle  ground  and 
altar-places  where  were  immolated  the  greater 
part  of  the  vegetable  creation  of  the  period. 

THE   LONE  SURVIVORS. 

Here  and  there  straggling  members  of  a  family 
reaching  a  locality  on  the  plain  or  part  way  up  a 
mountain  when  the  present  equilibrium  of  seasons 
was  established,  found  themselves  suited  to  the 
environment — and  it  is  the  descendants  of  those 
plants  that  are  the  inhabitants  of  our  plains  and 
mountains  to-day. 

These  terminals  of  broken  lines  of  development, 

(9) 


--^these  remnants  of  a  past  multitudinous  vegeta- 
tion,— ever  since  they  were  allowed  to  exist  and 
perpetuate  their  kind,  have  been  obliged  to  wage 
war  upon  neighbors  from  generation  to  generation, 
in  order  to  gain  or  retain  a  foothold,  resorting  to 
changes  of  ground,  of  character,  or  weapons,  in 
order  to  win  in  the  incessant  battle  of  life. 

PROOFS  OF  DOUBLE  MIGRATION. 

That  the  plants  have  made  the  double  journey 
described  is  plainly  proved  by  the  characters  of 
alpine  plants  on  high  peaks  of  the  North  Temper- 
ate Zone.  They  are  found  to  be  identical  with 
Arctic  plants.  Now  they  could  not  have  passed 
from  northern  regions  directly  to  these  summits 
during  the  southern  flight,  for  the  reason  that  both 
Arctic  regions  and  these  mountain  tops  were  being 
slowly  covered  simultaneously,  with  snow,  soon 
becoming  permanent  ice.  Manifestly  cold-loving 
plants — our  Alpine  plants — could  ascend  mountains 
only  when  fleeing  from  torrid  heat,  and  exactly 
that  condition  was  experienced  on  the  return 
journey;  so  here  on  all  the  peaks  of  the  North 
Temperate  Zone  are  stranded  Arctic  species  of 
plants,  with  less  northern  families  established 
on  the  slopes  of  the  mountains. 

GREAT   FOREST   OF   THE    NQRTHWEST. 

It  has  been  stated  that  Europe  and  Asia  were 
deprived  of  their  quota  of  plants  by  the  many  long 
transverse  ranges  of  mountains  preventing  the 
passing  of  plants  north  or  south,  except  through 
the  wide  gaps  between  ranges;  while  North  Amer- 

(10) 


ica  was  favored  by  having  nearly  longitudinal 
ranges,  permitting  the  free  passage  of  plants  to 
and  fro  along  unobstructed  plateaus. 

The  two  long  American  watersheds — the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  the  Alleghanies — deliminate  three 
plateaus,  Atlantic  Slope,  Mississippi  Valley,  and 
Pacific  Slope.  We  have  seen  that  the  distribution 
of  plants  was  not  equal — the  Pacific  Slope  having 
the  lion's  share,  and  largest  growths.  This  is  due 
principally  to  four  potential  agencies. 

I. — CONDUCTED    NORTHWEST    BY    HIGH 
PLATEAUS. 

The  Rocky  Mountains,  lying  near  the  western 
side  of  the  continent,  extend  southeasterly,  upon 
the  eastern  side  of  the  high  plateau  of  Mexico,  to 
Central  America.  The  plants  returning  from  the 
south  at  the  beginning  of  the  Thermal  Age,  80,000 
years  ago,  were  divided  at  the  outset  in  southern 
Mexico,  and  a  large  part  barred  out  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  by  the  Cordilleries,  that  killed  off  un- 
fortunate individuals  or  families  which  ascended 
their  foot-hills  and  spurs — as  described — while 
other  families  or  other  members  of  the  same  fami- 
lies were  attracted  to  pursue  the  broad,  free,  and, 
at  the  time,  cool  and  inviting  pathway  along  the 
high  plateau  of  Mexico  and  Arizona,  diminished 
at  every  league  by  the  many  spurred  Rocky 
Mountains;  the  survivors  escaping  to  pass  into 
the  valleys  and  along  the  sides  of  the  mountain ' 
ranges,  some  of  them  particularly  directed  north- 
westward again  by  the  favoring  coast  plateau,  deci- 
mated the  while,  by  the  high,  similarly  inclined 


and    destructive    Sierra    Nevada,    to    reach    final 
destination  in  California  and  the  region  northward. 

2. — DISTRIBUTED    BY    WARM    JAI'AN 
CURRENT. 

A  very  important  agency  helping  on  the  capture 
and  directing  the  distribution  of  the  trees  all  along 
the  western  coast  from  California  to  Alaska,  is  the 
presence  in  the  north  Pacific  Ocean  of  the  warm 
Kuro-Siwa,  or  Japan  current,  primarily  a  hot  trop- 
ical current  striking  the  islands  along  the  southern 
coast  of  China  and  deflected  northward  to  be  more 
deflected  by  the  Japan  islands  and  hurled  north- 
eastward across  the  Pacific  Ocean,  there  striking 
the  southern  side  of  the  long  chain  of  Aleutian 
Islands,  which  turn  a  part  of  the  current  down 
along  the  coast  of  America,  delayed  and  accumu- 
lated during  its  long  sweep  by  the  many  islands 
and  capes  on  the  way,  while  its  heat  rises  into  the 
atmosphere,  carrying  with  it  enormous  quantities 
of  water. 

3. — NOURISHED     BY    MOIST     IyAND\VARD 
BREEZES. 

Another  factor  closely  connected  with  the  pre- 
ceding is  found  in  the  cool,  broad,  over  run  ing  Pa- 
cific breezes  that  prevail  most  of  the  year  on  the 
northwest  coast.  Mingling  witrrnthe  heated  and 
moisture-filled  air  over  the  Japan  current,  the  vol- 
,  ume  presses  inland,  the  moisture  condensing  and 
falling  most  copiously  upon  the  nearest  cool  ele- 
vations— giving  sustenance  and  stimulus  to  the 
richest  and  most  remarkable  forest  on  the  face  of 
the  globe. 

(    12    ) 


4- — DEVELOPED   BY   SEMI-TROPIC    HEAT. 

The  fourth  factor  necessary,  it  is  found,  for  the 
production  of  largest  growths,  is  a  high  degree  of 
heat,  of  which  the  Puget  Sound  region  lacks  suffi- 
cient for  some  plants,  although  many  of  her  trees, 
such  as  the  Noble,  Grand,  and  Amabilis  firs,  and 
the  very  valuable  Gigantic  Cedar,  or  Shingle  tree, 
became  monsters,  and  the  Douglas  Spruce,  one  of 
the  most  valuable  timber  trees  on  the  earth,  be- 
comes in  Oregon  and  Washington  the  tallest  trees 
known,  450  to  probably  480  feet  high! 

This  necessary  heat  is  found  under  the  semi- 
tropic  sun  in  the  latitude  of  California.  This  heat 
added  to  the  enclosed  condition  of  the  state — the 
high  Sierra  on  one  side,  the  lower  Coast  Range  on 
the  other  admitting  the  ocean  breezes  through  its 
passes,  and  with  low  interlocking  ranges  at  each 
end — furnishes  just  the  right  conditions,  it  seems, 
for  strongest  allurement  to  enter  and  for  highest 
development  afterward,  for  here  only,  in  this  cul- 
de-sac  of  California,  are  found  the  largest  cone- 
bearing  trees  on  earth,  of  some  nine  different 
genera;  and  here  only  are  found  the  largest  and 
heaviest  cones  of  sixteen  different  species! 

Is  it  not  passing  strange  that  out  of  the  twenty 
pines  of  Europe  and  Asia,  and  the  twelve  pines  of 
the  eastern  states,  not  one  should  develop  cones  as 
large  as  either  one  of  five  pines  in  California? 

TRIBUTE  TO  CALIFORNIA  CLIMATE. 

The  great  truth  is  forced  upon  the  attention  that 
it  is  California  that  was  set  apart  from  all  the 
world,  when,  as  the  geologists  tell  us,  the  Pacific 

(13) 


Slope  was  raised  from  the  ocean  bed,  in  recent 
geologic  times,  by  a  mighty  geotherm  or  earth 
heat-wave,  with  the  Sierra  and  Cascade  Range  as 
its  axis  of  elevation;  followed  in  a  later  age  by 
another  uplift  with  the  Coast  Range  as  its  axis; 
while  the  long,  narrow  valley  between  the  ranges 
was  cross-fenced  by  low  mountains  into  several 
magnificent  parks,  principal  of  which  are  the  val- 
ley of  California,  the  smaller  Willamette  valley, 
and  the  extensive  Puget  Sound  region. 

Of  these,  California  was  assigned  first  place  in 
the  pathway  of  the  southern  fugitives,  inviting  to 
enter  and  urging  to  tarry  and  form  a  natural,  un- 
exampled arboretum  within  her  mountain  walls, 
supremely  aided  thereto  by  a  semi-tropic  sun  dis- 
pensing beneficent  heat — the  whole  array  of 
factors  mentioned  conferring  to  produce  the  most 
generous  and  forcing  climate  on  the  face  of  the 
earth — as  magnificently  evidenced  by  this  Match- 
less Forest  Endowment ! 

A    PROPHECY. 

There  is  a  collateral  thought,  pregnant  with 
great  promise,  clearly  deducible  from  this  forest 
phenomenon.  Because  the  physical  conditions  pro- 
duping  largest  and  best  forms  in  one  of  the  two 
organic  kingdoms  — the  vegetable — prevail  now 
upon  the  earth  in  one  sequestered  region,  \ve  may 
believe  that  the  other  kingdom — the  animal — and 
especially  the  human  family,  is  equally  susceptible 
to  the  world-excelling  stimulus,  and  we  may  log- 
ically expect  that  this  favored  clime — with  the 
contiguous  country  it  shall  dominate — is  the  com- 

(  H) 


ing  empire  of  the  earth,  with  a  people  and  govern- 
ment preeminent  in  moral  as  well  as  intellectual 
and  architectural*p4en4oi^<r<L^tK£C  /^L^vt^, 

The  poets,  those  inspired  persons  of  all  ages, 
have  given  ns  hints  of  the  future  great  Republic  of 
Arts  and  Letters  that  shall  arise  on  these  shores, 
as  foreshadowed  by  Joaquin  Miller: — 

"Dared  I  but  say  a  prophecy, 

As  sang  the  holy  men  of  old, 
Of  rock-built  cities  yet  to  be 

Along  these  shining  shores  of  gold, 
Crowding  athirst  into  the  sea, 

What  wondrous  marvels  might  be  told  ! 

"Enough,  to  know  that  empire  here 

Shall  burn  her  loftiest,  brightest  star; 
Here  art  and  eloquence  shall  reign, 

As  o'er  the  wolf- reared  realm  of  old; 
Here  learn'd  and  famous  from  afar 

To  pay  their  noble  court,  shall  come, 
And  shall  not  seek  nor  see  in  vain, 

But  look  on  all  with  wonder  dumb." 

John  Gill  Lenimon. 


How  to  Tell  the  Trees 

No.    i.     THE    CONE-BEARING    FAMILY 
-  CONIFERS 
By  J.  G.  Lemmon 

Common  trees  throughout  the  earth  are  rec- 
ognized by  certain  prominent  characters — 
mostly,  those  of  leaf  and  fruit.  We  know  the 
oak  at  sight,  by  its  usually  large  leaves,  and 
especially  by  its  peculiar  fruit — the  acorn. 
We  know  the  poplar  by  its  heart-shaped  leaf 
and  cotton-bearing  seeds,  the  maple  with  its 
large-toothed  leaves  and  double-winged  seeds, 
the  ash  with  its  pinnate  leaves  and  single- 
oared  seeds. 

We  Californians  have  learned  to  tell  at  a 
glance,  the  wonderful  Madrona  by  its  mag- 
nolia-like leaves,  its  red  berries,  and  partic- 
ularly, its  naked,  red  limbs.  The  clean,  white- 
barked  Sycamore  with  its  great  palmate  leaves 
and  its  hanging  strings  of  button-balls,  is  at 
once  detected,  and  the  spicy-leaved  California 
Laurel  with  its  large  bright-green  berries. 

All  these  and  many  more  large-leaved,  usu- 
ally low-land  trees  are  well  known;  but  they 
do  not  compose  the  mass  of  our  forests ;  they 
do  not  cover  our  coast  ranges  nor  our  lofty 
Sierra  Nevada.  They  do  but  little  of  the 
work  of  sponging  the  moisture  out  of  the 
overrunning  ocean  winds  and  distilling  it  in 
rain  or  showering  it  in  snow  upon  the  moun- 

(17) 


tains;  and  they  do  less  in  holding  the  greater 
part  of  it  in  the  canyons  of  the  Sierra  for 
the  summer  needs  of  the  plains  below. 

No ;  it  is  an  entirely  different  class  of  trees 
that,  mainly,  discharge  these  important  func- 
tions for  the  benefit  of  smaller  plants,  and, 
incidentally,  for  the  sustenance  of  mankind. 
That  class  is  the  resinous-wooded,  narrow- 
leaved,  usually  evergreen  trees  bearing  a  pe- 
culiar scaly  fruit,  called  from  its  usual  shape 
the  cone,  giving  to  the  great  class  the  appro- 
priate name  of  CO NIFER^E—  Cone-bearers. 

SPIRALES 
NORTHERN    PITCH    TREES 

It  is  the  most  resinous  of  these  trees,  the 
spiral-coned  Northern  Pitch  Trees,  that  form 
most  of  the  great  forests  of  the  North  Tem- 
perate Zone.  This  is  the  region  where  man 
originated  and  where  the  most  populous  na- 
tions assembled,  and,  particularly,  the  most 
important  of  these  are  in  Europe  and  North 
America,  the  homes  of  the  dominant  nations 
of  the  earth;  and,  farther,  the  largest  num- 
ber of  species  in  ratio  to  the  breadth  of  the 
country  occupied,  and  the  largest  forms  of 
these  trees,  with  largest  cones  and  seeds,  are 
found  only  in  California. 

What  an  inspiring  inference  can  be  drawn 
from  this  array  of  extraordinary  facts !  What 
a  guaranty — barring  accidents— for  an  unex- 
celled people  hundreds  of  years  "nence ! 

It  may  be  well  in  this  connection  to  state 
that  the  superlative  terms  largest,"  "tallest," 
"heaviest,"  "most  valuable,"  etc.,  are  inevita- 
ble expressions  when  one  is  describing  and 
comparing  California  trees.  This  is  owing  to 
the  fact  that  our  flora  is  not  identical  with 
any  other.  Our  trees  are,  in  a  sense,  a  spe- 


Photo  by  y.  G.  Lemrnon. 

BIG   TREE,  OR   GIANT   SEQUOIA. 

Sequoia   Washingtoniana.     Sud worth. 


cial  creation  of  enlarged  specimens,  the  result 
of  exceptionably  favorable  conditions  of  soil 
and  climate;  consequently,  they  are  in  many 
instances  simply  unexcelled. 

If  we  Californians  would  enter  upon  the 
exalted  stage  prepared  for  us  by  Mother 
Nature,  we  will  profit  by  avoiding  the  errors 
of  older  nations,  by  the  study  of  our  own 
matchless  forests,  insistence  upon  their  preser- 
vation, and  consequent  inheritance  of  their 
benign  influence  upon  our  own  advancement. 

Preparatory  to  the  serious  study  of  forestry, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  outline  of  topics 
presented  in  "Some  Hints  upon  Forestry,"  let 
us  in  this  paper  take  up  the  first  topic  there 
suggested,  learn  how  to  distinguish  the  many 
kinds  of  trees,  call  them  by  name,  and  get 
acquainted  with  them  in  their  homes. 

REDWOODS  —  SEQ  UOIA 

Of  course,  the  first  tree  that  comes  into  the 
mind  of  a  Californian,  native  or  adopted,  is  the 
Redwood  (Sequoia),  the  chief  of  all  trees  in 
size  and  majesty;  one  species  (S.  scnipcr- 
vircns)  dominating  the  coast  forests,  with  its 
wealth  of  valuable  lumber  trees ;  the  other,  the 
Big  Tree  (S.  Washinptoniana),  ennobling  the 
Sierra  forests  with  its  mammoth  columnar 
trunk  and  its  immense  crown  of  perfect  ver- 
dure, not  a  limb  awry  or  dead,  nor  a  tree 
dying  until  prostrated  by  its  own  overweight 
or  a  severe  storm. 

So  well  known  at  home  and  abroad  are  these 
mammoth  trees  that  this  mere  brief  mention 
of  them  in  the  order  of  their  importance  suf- 
fices. It  is  pertinent  in  passing  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  newly-discovered  fact  that,  of  the 
fifty  or  more  extinct  species  of  a  prodigious 
forest  known  to  have  extended  well  over 
northern  regions,  of  which  our  two  Sequoias 

(20) 


SUGAR    PINE. 


are  the  conspicuous  living  representatives,  our 
Sierra  Giant  bears  much  larger  cones  than 
any  found  in  fossil  remains.  Without  doubt 
it  is  the  largest  vegetable  creation  that  ever 
towered  above  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

The  tall,  spire-shaped  Coast  Redwood  need 
never  be  confounded  with  the  Cedar  and 
Cypress  of  the  region,  for  they  have  only 
little  pointed  scales  for  leaves,  while  the  Red- 
wood has  distinct,  linear  leaves,  one-half  to 
an  inch  long,  and  arranged  in  two  ranks  along 
the  branchlet.  The  broad-crowned  Sierra 
Giant,  or  Washington  Tree,  having  small, 
scale-like  leaves,  is  sometimes  mistaken  for 
the  Incense  Cedar  of  the  region,  but  the  com- 
paratively large,  oval  cone,  one  and  one-half 
to  two  and  one-half  inches  long,  distinguishes 
the  Big  Tree  unmistakably. 

FASCICULARES 

THE    PINE  FAMILY— /VATS 

Next  to  the  Redwoods  in  interest  is  the 
numerous  family  of  pines  comprising  the 
most  part  of  our  forests.  The  genus  called 
botanically  Pirnis  comprises  about  eighty  spe- 
cies all  told,  distributed  over  the  North 
Temperate  Zone  on  both  hemispheres,  but,  to 
the  surprise  of  most  persons,  quite  unequally. 

Of  the  80  species,  only  20  are  found  in 
Eurasia,  a  vast  region  over  9,000  miles  across, 
while  three  times  as  many  species,  60,  are  in 
North  America,  only  one-third  as  wide  (3,000 
miles).  Of  these  60  American  species,  25  are 
on  the  Pacific  Slope  north  of  Mexico,  and  20 
of  these  are  in  California;  that  is,  the  little, 
narrow  state  of  California  has  within  its 
borders  as  many  species  of  pine  as  there  are 
in  all  the  broad  expanse  of  the  Old  World. 

And  the  same  conditions  prevail  practically, 
in  regard  to  most  of  the  other  forest  trees ; 


Photo  by  J.   G.  Lemmoii* 

SUGAR    PINE   TRUNK. 

Pin  us  Lambertiana.     Douglas. 


there  is  a  paucity  of  species  and  individuals 
generally  in  the  Old  World,  while  there  is 
variety  and  profusion  in  the  New. 

These  twenty  species  of  California  pines  in- 
clude about  three-fourths  of  the  forest  trees 
in  the  state;  that  is,  they  constitute  the  much 
larger  part  of  the  great  forests  covering  our 
several  mountain  ranges. 

Now,  would  it  not  be  gratifying  and  en- 
couraging as  well,  if  one  with  little  attention 
could  be  enabled  to  tell  any  pine  tree  at  a 
glance?  That  pleasure  and  power  may  be  in 
the  possession  of  the  reader  by  making  one 
simple  little  discovery.  Look  closely  at  the 
twigs  or  pick  up  a  few  leaves  beneath  a  forest 
tree  and  examine  them.  If  they  are  fastened 
together  in  little  bundles  of  two,  three,  or  five, 
you  may  be  sure  that  you  have  at  hand  a  pine 
tree.  Moreover,  most  of  the  leaves  (all  of 
them  when  young)  are  close-wrapped  at  the 
base  with  long,  thin,  overlapping  scales.  This 
leaf-sheath  is  the  infallible  sign  of  a  pine,  as 
it  covers  the  case  of  the  Single-leaf  Pine, 
which  is  born  a  twin,  but  the  microscope  re- 
veals that  its  brother  is  overcrowded  in  the 
sheath  and  perishes. 

Other  important  characters  are:  Usually 
long,  slender  leaves  (called  needles),  of  equal 
size  from  end  to  end  :  the  fruit  (called  a  cone) 
is  composed  of  flat,  overlapping  scales,  ar- 
ranged in  spirals  from  base  to  apex,  the  scales 
enlarged  at  the  end  or  exposed  portion,  which 
usually  bears  a  prickle  or  a  stouter  spine  or 
hook,  each  developed  scale  bearing  above  it 
two  usually  winged  seeds. 

It  is  necessary  to  segregate  this  mass  of 
thousands  of  miles  of  forest  wealth,  and  per- 
haps it  will  be  as  well  in  this  brief  paper 
to  depart  from  the  strict  botanical  groupings 
presented  in  "Manual  of  West-American  Cone- 
bearers,"  since  the  species  composing  them  are 

(24  ) 


w 


en 
£ 


often  scattered  well  over  the  regions ;  so  we 
will  present  them  somewhat  as  we  find  them, 
associated  in  given  regions  of  the  mountain 
slopes  or  in  lines  along  the  seashore. 

But  while  we  may  profitably  ignore  botan- 
ical groupings,  we  should  not  neglect  the 
botanical  names,  for  they  are  the  only  ones 
that  are  in  universal  use  by  educated  persons 
of  all  nations :  and  they  are  not  difficult  to 
pronounce  if  one  considers  that  in  Latin  every 
letter  has  its  proper  sound,  none  are  silent, 
and  every  vowel  is  in  a  separate  syllable. 

In  the  use  of  English  names  the  most  ap- 
propriate have  been  selected, — those  agreed 
upon  by  the  largest  number  of  dendrologists. 

FOUR     LARGE     LUMBER     PINES 

What  California!!  does  not  know  the  Sugar 
Pine  (P.  Lainbertiana)  at  a  glance?  Seen 
from  the  car  window  while  threading  the 
canyons  of  the  Sierra,  or  as  noted  from  the 
Yosemite  stage,  its  massive  trunk,  finely 
checked  in  bark  and  limbless  for  100  to  200 
feet,  its  large  upper  limbs  outreaching  and 
suspending  aloft,  the  large,  long,  russet  cones, 
the  tree  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
known.  It  adds  greatly  to  the  impression  to 
reflect  that  the  Sugar  Pine  is  by  far  the  largest 
pine,  with  largest  fruit,  in  all  the  world. 

Trees  are  not  rare  measuring  250  to  300 
feet  high,  with  a  diameter  of  10  to  12  feet, 
the  cones  15  to  20  inches  long.  The  lum- 
ber is  very  valuable,  white,  s»ft,  and  easily 
manufactured.  Sugar  Pine  is  next  in  value 
to  the  celebrated  White  Pine  of  the  great 
forests  that  but  recently  covered  the  region 
of  the  Great  Lakes.  The  sad  reflection  comes 
that  the  same  shrewd  business  men  who  have 
destroyed  those  great  forests  are  now  seek- 
ing Sugar  Pine  claims,  to  repeat  here  the  dis- 

(26) 


JEFFREY,    OR    BLACK    PINE    TREE. 

Pinus  Jeffreyi.     Murray. 


astrous  conditions  affecting  the  sources  of  the 
Mississippi  River. 

Above  the  belt  of  Sugar  Pine,  often  mingling 
with  its  upper  edge,  resides  his  big  brother, 
the  Silver  Pine  (P.  monticola),  with  its  white 
bark  (on  young  trees  gleaming  like  beaten 
silver),  the  same  kind  of  large,  outreaching 
Ijmbs;  but  the  cones  are  smaller,  not  one- 
fourth  the  size.  Like  the  Sugar  Pine  and 
the  eastern  White  Pine,  it  belongs  to  an  im- 
portant group,  with  special  characters  of 
white,  soft  lumber,  smooth,  unarmed  cones, 
and  short,  slender  leaves  always  in  fives. 

Ranging  below  the  Sugar  Pine  belt  of  the 
Sierra,  and  outspanning  it  north  and  south, 
as  also  extending  eastward  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  are  massed  the  great  forests  of 
Yellow  Pine  (P.  ponderosa),  trees  varying 
considerably  in  color  of  bark  and  size  of  cones, 
but  usually  with  yellowish  bark,  and  the  cones 
ovate,  three  to  four  inches  long,  with  small, 
deltoid  prickles,  the  leaves  in  threes.  A 
marked  peculiarity  of  this  tree  is  common  to 
the  group  to  which  it  belongs, — the  Broken- 
cone  Pines.  Soon  after  maturity  the  cones 
break  away  from  the  stem  by  an  irregular 
fracture  through  the  base  of  the  cone,  and  fall 
away,  leaving  a  rosette  of  small,  undeveloped 
scales  unon  the  branch. 

The  Yellow  Pine  is  next  to  Sugar  Pine  in 
size,  often  attaining  the  dimensions  of  200  to 
300  feet  in  height  by  8  to  TO  feet  in  diameter, 
with  spire-like  form  and  short  limbs.  The 
lumber  is  yellowish,  hard,  aniSl  strong.  Closely 
related  to  the  Pitch  Pines  of  the  east  and  the 
Long-leaf  Pines  of  the  south,  it  shares  with 
them  in  reputation  for  good  building  lumber. 

The  male  or  staminate  flowers  of  the  Yel- 
low Pine  are  quite  conspicuous,  forming  large 
rosettes  of  long,  curling,  brown  tassels  two 
or  three  inches  long  and  one-fourth  inch  in 

(28) 


diameter,  ornamenting  most  of  the  twigs  of 
bearing  trees,  never,  however,  on  the  same 
branchlet  with  the  cones,  nor  are  the  rosettes 
exactly  terminal,  a  bud  with  a  few  leaves 
usually  being  in  the  center. 

All  the  other  pines,  especially  the  White 
Pine  group,  have  shorter  or  smaller  tassels. 

In  a  few  high  localities  from  near  Mount 
Shasta  to  the  southern  mountains  of  the  state, 
and  mingling  with  the  Yellow  Pine,  is  the 
fourth  mammoth  tree  of  this  genus,  the  noble 
Jeffrey  Pine  (P.  JeiTreyi),  so  named  in  honor  of 
its  discoverer,  also  known  as  Black  Pine,  from 
the  prevailing  color  of  its  bark.  The  tree  is 
more  rounded  in  outline  than  the  last,  with 
longer  limbs  and  much  larger  cones,  six  to 
ten  inches  long,  with  larger  prickles.  The 
leaves  and  twigs  are  whitish  in  color,  and 
when  injured  they  exhale  a  pleasant,  aromatic 
fragrance. 

It  is  these  four  pines  that  are  falling  before 
the  ax  and  saw  of  the  lumberman  at  a  fear- 
ful rate,  the  undesired  trees  and  young  ones 
sharing  the  same  fate  through  carelessness. 
Forest  fires  complete  the  devastation.  When 
this  quartette  of  magnificent  trees  is  stripped 
from  our  mountains,  but  a  ruin  will  remain, 
and  the  plains  will  be  doomed. 

FOUR    COAST    PINES 

Another  interesting  group,  or  rather,  line 
of  trees,  is  the  quartette  of  shore  pines 
stretching  from  the  sand  dunces  of  San  Diego 
(o  the  glacier  beds  of  Alaska,~and  which  have 
been  characterized  as  "the  quartette  of  fight- 
ing, storm-beaten,  but  successful  heroes  bat- 
tling their  way  down  to  the  foam-flecked  sea." 

Most  of  the  population  of  California  reside 
in  or  near  'the  coast  cities,  and  may  readily 
meet  with  these  pines  and  make  their  ac- 
quaintance. The  curious  can  not  help  being 

(30) 


interested  in  their  determined  seizure  of  the 
ocean-blown  sands,  century  after  century,  and 
their  individually  different  implements  or 
armor,  with  which  they  have  learned  to  equip 
themselves  for  resisting  the  fury  of  the  ocean 
gales. 

Examination  reveals  the  curious  fact  that 
the  southernmost  of  the  line,  the  one  in  the 
semi-tropic  latitude  of  San  Diego,  is  the  most 
limited  in  area  of  occupation  and  in  the  num- 
ber of  trees,  and  that  it  has  the  largest  cones, 
with  the  largest  seeds ;  the  leaves  are  the 
largest,  the  longest,  and  they  have  the  great- 
est number  in  the  fascicle;  grading  down  in 
several  respects  through  species  after  species, 
the  last  one  being  the  little  dwarf  pine,  with 
minute  organs,  condensed  for  the  fight  along 
the  Arctic  shore  of  Alaska. 

First  is  the  Torrey  Pine  (P.  Torrcyana), 
named  for  the  eminent  botanist  Dr.  John  Tor- 
rey; often  called  the  Lone  Pine.  It  is  found 
on  the  beach  near  Del  Mar,  twenty  miles  north 
of  San  Diego,  with  a  few  on  adjacent  islands. 
It  is  now  reduced  to  a  few  hundred  trees, 
crouched  and  creeping  on  the  sand  or  strug- 
gling for  the  erect  position  in  the  valley  back 
of  the  bluffs,  their  tops  broadened  out  and 
flattened  to  just  the  level  of  the  barrier. 

The  prostrated  trees  on  the  shore  side  are 
on  all-fours,  so  to  speak,  and  thrusting  up- 
ward short,  sturdy  shoots  heavily  loaded  with 
circles  or  with  solitary  cones,  which  are  nearly 
globular,  four  to  five  inches  long,  and  of  the 
hardest  and  heaviest  character,  two  to  three 
pounds  weight,  with  short  points  to  the  broad 
scales.  The  seeds,  hard  as  filberts,  are  about 
an  inch  long,  the  largest  pine  seeds  known. 
The  leaves  reach  the  limit  of  extension  at 
three  points;  they  are  twelve  to  eighteen  inches 
long,  one-tenth  of  an  inch  wide,  and  there 
are  five  of  these  unequaled  needles  to  the  fas- 
cicle. 


What  a  magnificent  tree  this  must  have 
been  in  its  best  estate !  The  wide  space  of 
400  miles  between  its  present  home  and  that 
of  the  next  species  northward  may  indicate 
the  ground  it  has  lost  and  predict  the  im- 
pending doom  of  this  heroic  but  unfortunate 
pine. 

What  California  poet  will  pay  a  visit  to 
these  lone  survivors,  gaze  upon  the  many 
deep  pits  in  the  hard  soil  where  stood  their 
ancestors,  and  give  to  the  world  a  threnody, — 
"The  Passing  of  the  Pine"  ? 

One  coast  pine  at  least  is  well  known  to 
many  citizens  of  west-central  California,  the 
Monterey  Pine  (P.  radiata),  much  used  for 
ornamenting  parks  and  pleasure  grounds  of 
the  coast  towns,  and  highly  prized  for  the 
dense,  dark-green  leaves  clothing  its  long, 
spreading  limbs,  interspersed  with  light-yellow, 
curiously-knobbed  cones. 

With  headquarters  on  Point  Pinos,  it  ranges 
southward  to  San  Simeon  Bay  and  northward 
to  Pescadero.  The  leaves,  four  to  six  inches 
long,  are  in  threes ;  the  cones,  usually  pro- 
duced in  circles  about  the  limbs,  are  strongly 
declined,  ovate,  four  to  six  inches  long,  and 
often  weighing  half  a  pound  ;  and  the  scales 
on  the  outside  near  the  base  are  enlarged  to 
hemispherical  knobs,  often  one-half  inch  high. 
Usually  the  cones  do  not  fall  at  maturity,  but 
are  caught  in  the  thick  bark  of  the  tree  and 
carried  outward  through  life.  Trees  near 
Pacific  Grove  may  be  seen  ^retaining  all  the 
cones  they  have  borne — a  most  interesting  phe- 
nomenon. 

The  length  of  time  that  a  pine  cone  remains 
upon  the  tree  usually  depends  upon  the  length 
of  the  cone  stem.  The  cones  of  the  four  Nut 
Pines  of  the  interior  arid  region  are  stem- 
less,  sitting  flat  on  the  branches,  and  so  are 
pushed  off  at  maturity.  The  half-inch  stems 

(32) 


Photo  by   <}.   G.  Lcmmon. 

WESTERN    YELLOW    PINE    TRUNK. 

Pinus  ponder osa.     Douglas. 


of  the  Broken-cone  Pines  allow  the  cones  to 
remain  about  two  years.  The  three  or  four- 
inch  stems  of  the  Heavy  Cones  are  not  dis- 
turbed for  four  to  six  years.  The  long, 
slender,  soft  stems  of  the  Sugar  Pine  either 
separate  naturally  from  the  branchlet  or  they 
are  twisted  off  by  the  autumn  winds  next  fol- 
lowing maturity. 

Mingling  sparsely  with  the  Monterey  Pine, 
but  increasing  to  sole  possession  of  the  shore 
northward,  is  the  Prickle-cone  Pine  (P.  muri- 
cata),  loving  the  wet  places,  from  Tamales 
Point  to  Cape  Mendocino,  where  it  is  found 
of  large  size,  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter, 
and  with  very  hard  bark,  three  to  five  inches 
thick,  the  thickest  known.  The  cones  in  cir- 
cles are  reduced  to  the  size  of  a  hen's  egg 
and  are  armed  with  sharp  prickles ;  the  leaves 
are  reduced  to  a  pair  in  each  fascicle.  This 
tree,  like  the  last,  belongs  to  the  group  Tenaccs, 
or  Persistent-cone  Pines,  holding  their  cones 
through  life.  As  the  cones  are  carried  along 
outward,  the  piece  of  stem  causes  a  channel 
behind  it  from  pith  to  bark,  spoiling  the  lum- 
ber of  the  whole  group,  boards  made  from 
them  being  found  full  of  "pinholes." 

To  make  amends,  they  are  beautiful  trees, 
holding  in  check  the  ocean  winds,  and  further, 
they  readily  yield  to  cultivation,  like  the  mari- 
time pines  of  southern  Europe,  largely  used 
in  the  reclamation  of  the  southern  coast  re- 
gions. 

Near  Cape  Mendocino  commences  the  long 
stretch  of  North  Shore  Pine*  (P.  contortd), 
the  last  and  smallest  of  this  quartette  of  sea- 
loving,  fog-nurtured,  aggressive,  fighting  pines. 
Pressing  along  the  promontories,  and  taking 
possession  of  the  sand  dunes  as  soon  as 
thrown  up  by  the  sea — despite  the  blasts  of 
old  Boreas — they  yield  so  far  as  to  become 
close-set,  round-shouldered,  flat-headed,  many- 

(r34) 


limbed  trees,  with  dense,  stubby,  one-inch 
leaves,  reduced  to  pairs,  and  wedged  in  be- 
tween the  dwarfed  cones  one  to  two  inches 
long,  the  latter  held  tightly,  often  through  the 
life  of  the  tree*. 

Thus  these  brave  little  pines  hold  the  forts 
along  the  bleak  northern  coast  to  the  for- 
bidding glaciers  of  Alaska;  not  alone  succeed- 
ing by  their  intrepidity,  but,  stooping  to  con- 
quer, they  dispense  with  the  garniture  enjoyed 
by  their  relatives  of  the  interior,  and  modify 
remaining  organs  to  the  requirements  of  des- 
perate battle. 

Near  Mendocino  are  wind  breaks  composed 
of  this  pine  so  dense  and  extensive  that  strange 
plants  from  the  interior  are  encouraged  to 
journey  to  the  coast,  there  to  flourish  and 
flaunt  their  graces  in  serene  security,  while  the 
dairy  stock  of  the  vicinity  during  wintry 
storms  seek  the  shelter  of  this  living  wall 
of  subjugated  trees. 

TWO    HEAVY-CONE    PINES 

The  Gray  Pine  (P.  Sabiniana),  with  its 
whitish  foliage  resembling  clouds  of  smoke 
at  a  distance,  is  found  in  the  gulches  and  on 
the  foot-hills  sparsely  from  the  Tehachapi 
Pass  to  Redding.  It  bears  very  Inrge  and 
heavy  cones,  three  to  five  pounds ;  its  leaves 
are  in  threes  and  whitened  with  powder. 
When  young  this  is  one  of  the  prettiest  pines  ; 
older,  the  trees  are  apt  to  divide  near  the 
base,  and  the  leaves — all  but  those  of  the 
season — droop  or  fall  away,  giving  the  limbs 
a  tufted  appearance. 

A  second  species  of  the  Heavy-cone  group 
has  become  celebrated.  Who  of  California, 
especially  southern  California,  has  not  seen 
or  heard  of  the  Big-cone  Pine  (P.  Coulteri}, 
named  for  the  discoverer?  The  cones  in 

(35) 


I 
m 

•  6 

•  o 


quantities  are  taken  to  the  several  world 
fairs,  and  are  on  exhibition  in  eastern  and 
foreign  museums.  Grand  trees  are  they,  be- 
coming three  to  five  feet  in  diameter  in  the 
San  Bernardino  Mountains.  They  extend 
northward  along  the  Santa  Lucia  Mountains 
to  San  Luis  Obispo,  where  they  were  first 
seen  in  1830  by  Dr.  Coulter.  An  outlying 
grove  of  about  1,000  acres  of  small  but  beau- 
tiful trees  ennobles  Mount  Diablo  on  the  north 
side,  in  full  view  of  the  village  of  Clayton. 
To  be  seen  at  their  best,  the  reader  should 
visit  the  largest  trees,  holding  out  on  their 
long  limbs  the  great  cones  in  pairs  or  trip- 
lets, when  opened  resembling  wicker  baskets. 
They  are  ten  to  twelve  inches  long,  and  weigh 
eight  to  ten  pounds,  by  far  the  heaviest  cones 
known.  The  scales  terminate  in  hooks,  curv- 
ing inward,  the  largest  near  the  base  on  the 
outer  side  being  often  three  to  four  inches 
long.  The  leaves,  in  threes,  are  almost  un- 
excelled, fourteen  to  eighteen  inches  long. 

TWO     CURIOUS     PINES 

In  strong  contrast  with  these  big  Heavy- 
cone  Pines  is  the  little  Knob-cone  or  Narrow- 
cone  Pine  (P.  attenuata) ,  found  in  small 
groves  at  middle  altitudes  from  the  San  Ber- 
nardino Mountains  along  the  sunny  slopes  of 
the  Sierra  to  Shasta,  with  several  noted  groves 
in  the  Coast  Mountains,  especially  one  large 
body  on  the  summit  of  Mt.  St.  Helena,  and 
a  smaller  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Oakland 
hills,  but  a  few  miles  from  that  city. 

Usually  small  trees  growing  in  masses,  they 
become  slender  and  tall,  beginning  to  bear  at 
an  early  age;  the  bright  little  cones,  four  to 
six  inches  long,  are  produced  in  circles,  one 
marking  each  year's  growth,  and  hold  fast 
on  trunk  and  limbs,  if  the  tree  is  separated 

(  37  I 


far  enough  from  others  to  retain  its  body  limbs, 
through  the  life  of  the  tree.  Owing  to  the 
tapering  character  of  the  cone  (suggesting  its 
botanical  name),  the  cones  are^not  pushed  off, 
but  often  the  wood-layers  seize  and  cover  the 
cones  from  sight. 

It  is  not  strange  that  this  lovely  little  pine 
is  a  favorite  in  cultivation,  a  long  hillside 
being  planted  with  them  like  an  orchard  in 
the  lower  end  of  the  experimental  grounds  at 
Berkeley.  Managers  of  experimental  grounds 
elsewhere  in  the  state  are  growing  them  by 
the  thousand  and  distributing  as  desired,  for 
reforesting  the  foot-hill  region,  especially 
where  denuded  by  hydraulic  mining.  The 
Narrow-cone  Pine  is  a  member  of  the  Tenaces 
group,  along  with  the  Monterey  Pine,  having 
persistent  cones  and  leaves  in  threes,  but  the 
cone  is  narrower,  pointed,  and  the  scales  on 
the  outer  side  terminate  in  conical,  curved 
spurs  instead  of  rounded  knobs. 

Another  contrast  is  found  in  the  characters 
of  the  true  Nut  Pines  of  the  arid  interior 
regions,  the  cones  small,  nearly  globular, 
strongly  knobbed,  and  containing  large,  wing- 
less, oily,  and  delicious  seeds.  There  are  four 
species ;  practically  but  one  of  them,  the 
Single-leaf  Pine  (P.  monophylla),  reaches 
California  on  the  southeastern  flanks  of  the 
Sierra  and  on  the  desert  exposures  of  the 
San  Bernardino  Mountains.  In  early  times 
the  nuts  of  these  trees,  called  Pinyons,  then 
abundant  on  the  hills  of  Nevada,  formed  a 
large  part  of  the  aboriginal  'food,  but  later 
the  miners  and  stock  men  have  nearly  ex- 
terminated the  Indian  orchards.  The  Pine 
Nuts  of  commerce  are  the  product  of  another 
species  in  New  Mexico. 


(38) 


NARROW,   OR    KNOB  CONE    PINE. 


FOUR  SUB-ALPINE  PINES 

The  widest  distributed  of  the  Sub-Alpine 
Pines  is  the  Murray  Pine  (P.  Murrayana) , 
often  called  Tamarack  Pine  from  its  resem- 
blance to  the  Larch  or  Tamarack  of  the  east. 
It  is  one  of  the  Thimble-cone  group,  with 
tiny  cones  and  short  leaves  in  pairs,  like  the 
North  Shore  Pine  described,  with  which  some 
botanists  classify  it.  The  bark  (from  a  little 
distance  above  the  base)  is  exceedingly  thin, 
flaking  off  in  small  scales,  leaving  but  an 
eighth  inch  of  hard  bark  remaining.  In  north- 
ern regions,  where  it  is  called  Lodge-pole 
Pine,  it  is  usually  found  tolerating  the  pres- 
ence of  sister  trees,  so  forming  dense  groves 
of  tall,  slender,  white  stems,  suggesting 
bamboo.  Southward  in  California  they  oc- 
cupy almost  exclusively  the  high  plateaus. 
Beautiful  groves  enliven  the  scenery  of  such 
glacier  lakes  as  Tahoe,  Donner,  Independence, 
and  Webber,  and  similar  valleys  elsewhere 
emptied  of  their  lakes.  The  broad,  glaciated 
plateau  eastward  of  Yosemite,  upon  which 
arise  the  Sierra  peaks,  is  mostly  covered  with 
this  singular  pine,  interspersed  with  little 
sun-filled  intervales,  where  the  unaffrighted 
deer  may  be  seen  nibbling  the  lush  autumn 
grasses  and  the  chattering  red  squirrel  thinks 
it  no  intrusion  to  share  the  comforts  of  your 
camp — likewise  its  provisions. 

Most  trees  are  greatly  modified  by  environ- 
ment ;  those  growing  in  the  open  often  branch 
freely  and  retaining  all  the  ^imbs,  this  be- 
havior being  very  different  from  trees  of  the 
same  species  in  a  dense  forest. 

A  tree  of  the  Murray  Pine  rioting  alone 
in  the  moraine  soil  above  Webber  Lake  was 
felled  to  obtain  a  log  specimen  for  exhibition 
at  the  Centennial  Fair.  It  proved  to  be  300 
years  old,  123  feet  high,  7  feet  in  diameter, 

(40) 


and  with  a  mass  of  360  live,  body  limbs,  many 
of  them  20  feet  long,  drooping  and  sweep- 
ing the  ground. 

Three  other  sub-Alpine  pines,  more  or  less 
abundant  on  the  mountains  of  the  interior 
Great  Basin,  reach  the  eastern  slope  of  the 
Sierra  sparsely  near  the  southern  end.  They 
all  have  short  leaves  in  fascicles  of  five  each, 
and  pendant,  oblong  cones  three  to  four  inches 
long. 

One  is  the  Limber  Pine  (P.  flexilis),  with 
slender  branchlets,  smooth  cones,  with  large, 
nearly  round,  wingless  seeds ;  found  at  a  few 
stations,  notably  a  few  trees  in  Bloody  Canyon 
of  Mono  Pass,  east  of  Yosemite  Valley;  also 
a  few  trees  were  discovered  only  last  season 
by  a  forest  ranger  on  the  north  (desert)  slope 
of  Mount  San  Bernardino. 

A  second  species,  the  Bristle-cone  Pine  (P. 
aristata),  with  black  bristles  half  an  inch  long 
terminating  the  cone  scales,  is  sparsely  in- 
habiting several  slopes;  and  the  third  species, 
the  Fox-tail  Pine  (P.  Balfouriana),  with  long, 
plumelike  limbs,  and  softer,  nearly  smooth 
cones,  forms  a  few  high  groves  near  Mt.  Whit- 
ney; while,  very  strangely,  a  few  lonely  trees 
fringe  the  high  forest  on  Mt.  Eddy,  near 
Mt.  Shasta,  400  miles  from  its  relatives. 

THE  BRAVE   LITTLE    ALPINER 

Lastly,  above  them  all,  on  the  verge  of  the 
timber  line, — the  upper  fringe  of  the  immense 
forest  robe  of  King  Sierra, — are  found  the 
few  living  specimens  of  a  truly  Alpine  tree, 
the  White-stem  Pine  (P.  albicaulis).  De- 
pressed to  firm  platforms  flooring  the  high, 
narrow,  wind-swept  passes,  or  leaning  crip- 
pled and  stunted  against  the  storm-splintered 
buttresses  (or  even  standing  out  defiantly, 
alone),  all  with  bodies  short  and  thick,  their 

(41) 


branches  maintaining  sturdy,  milk-white 
branchlets,  proudly  erect,  and  bearing  aloft 
their  condensed  fascicles  of  shortened,  thick- 
ened leaves,  half  concealing  the  abbreviated, 
hardened  cones,  they  strongly  appeal  to  sensi- 
tive souls  for  sympathy. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection 
that  of  all  the  forest  trees,  of  whatever  class 
or  family,  on  the  face  of  the  earth;  of  all  the 
cone-bearing  trees  so  bountifully  bestowed 
upon  California,  it  is  the  pine  that  is  en- 
dowed with  a  constitution  sufficiently  hardy 
and  with  organs  sufficiently  pliable  to  meet 
alike  the  rigorous  requirements  of  existence 
upon  the  bleak,  inhospitable  shores  of  Alaska 
and  the  similarly  storm-beaten,  but  two-miles 
higher  peaks  of  the  Sierra. 

Imprisoned  in  ice  and  snow  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  year,  the  White-stem  Pine  only  has 
time  to  breathe,  when,  for  a  few  weeks,  the 
midsummer  sun  melts  the  snow  banks,  re- 
vealing the  icicle-decorated  heroes  uplifting 
their  white-staffed  scepters,  bright  with  royal 
purple  gems,  as  who  should  say :  "We  are  the 
strongest  trees  on  earth,  the  highest  expres- 
sion of  arboreal  existence,  the  crown  of  the 
world's  forests !  Leaving  relatives  behind  eons  . 
ago,  through  ages  of  strenuous  endeavor,  and 
despite  the  rigid  repression  of  the  elements, 
we  have  battled  for  this  exalted  throne.  We 
alone  above  the  worthy  and  titled  individuals 
of  the  celebrated  forests  below  are  privileged 
to  stand  before  kings ;  the  %eaven-piercing 
pinnacles  of  the  High  Sierra  only,  are  loftier 
than  we." 


(42) 


SOLITARES 

OTHER    PITCH    TREES 

The  rest  of  the  Pitch  Trees  of  the  Cone- 
bearing  family  are  peculiar  and  easily  recog- 
nized. The  problem  is  greatly  simplified  at 
the  outset  by  the  elimination  of  two  genera 
not  found  in  California,  except  in  cultivation, 
— the  true  Cedar  (Cedrus)  and  the  true  Larch 
or  Tamarack  (Larix). 

The  other  groups,  the  Spruces  and  Firs, 
are  represented  in  abundance  in  America,  and 
especially  in  California,  by  trees  often  of  great 
size  and  value.  The  leaves  of  both  are  soli- 
tary and  short ;  the  cones  with  thin,  flat,  un- 
armed scales. 

FEATHER-CONE   SPRUCES 

If  one  should  be  traveling  in  the  mountains 
of  California,  and  should  come  upon  trees 
with  long,  gracefully  declining  branches,  bear- 
ing on  the  outer  margins  numerous  small 
brown  cones,  which  when  open  are  about  the 
size  of  a  hen's  egg,  and  decorated  with  long, 
flat,  three-toothed,  feather-like  bracts,  protrud- 
ing a  half  inch  from  between  the  scales,  he 
might  be  sure  that  he  was  in  the  regal  pres- 
ence of  a  Douglas  Spruce  (Pseudotsuga  taxi- 
folia).  Forming  the  greater  part  of  the  dense 
forest  about  Puget  Sound,  where  they  become 
350  to  450  feet  high — the  tallest  trees  in  the 
world — they  spread  down  along  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  the  ranges  of  California  to 
Arizona.  Douglas  Spruce  (improperly  called 
by  lumber  dealers  "Oregon  Pine"  and  "Red 
Fir")  constitutes  the  major  part  of  the  out- 
put of  the  scores  of  great  mills  in  the  north- 
west, now  the  richest  lumber  region  of  the 
world.  No  tree  is  more  utilized  for  all  pur- 

(43) 


poses  where  strong,  durable  lumber  is  desired. 
For  building  timbers,  sleepers,  joists,  and 
flooring  it  is  unexcelled.  It  is  exported  to 
all  parts  of  the  world  for  ship  timbers,  spars, 
and  masts.  The  stout  vessels  used  for  voyag- 
ing amidst  the  ice  floes  of  the  Arctic  are  built 
from  selected  Douglas  Spruce  lumber  taken 
from  the  butt  logs  of  these  trees. 

The  thousands  of  piles  used  so  largely  for 
wharves  and  ferry  slips,  for  building  founda- 
tions and  railroad  bridges,  the  tall  flagstaffs 
erected  at  recent  world  fairs,  all  come  from 
the  Douglas  Spruce  forest  of  the  north. 

Fine  specimens  with  rounded  heads  and 
abundant  cones  are  found  on  the  western  end 
of  Mount  Tamalpais,  near  the  ocean,  and  in 
sight  of  San  Francisco.  A  very  beautiful 
form,  with  graceful,  weeping  branchlets,  is 
found  sparsely  near  Yosemite  and  northward 
to  near  Mt.  Shasta. 

A  second  species  of  this  Feather-cone  genus 
of  Spruces  is  the  Big-cone  Spruce  (Ps.  ma- 
crocarpa),  growing  on  the  south  side  of  the 
San  Bernardino  and  connected  mountains. 
The  cones,  similar  in  appearance  to  the 
Douglas  Spruce,  are  many  times  larger,  six 
to  eight  inches  long,  the  largest  in  the  world. 

NAKED-CONE    SPRUCES 

The  Naked-cone  species  of  spruce  (Picea) 
in  California  comprise  two  species  also.  One, 
the  Tide-land  Spruce  (P.  Sitchcusis),  is 
abundant  northward,  and  comes  down  the 
coast  as  far  as  Cape  Mendocino.  Loving  the 
ocean  beach  and  the  interior  wet  grounds,  it 
often  becomes  a  large  tree,  remarkable  for 
its  beautiful,  smooth  cones  two  to  three  inches 
long,  and  for  its  sharp  leaves,  wounding  the 
fingers  like  sewing  needles. 

The  fourth  species,  the  most  beautiful  of 
all,  would  require  a  special  effort  to  find  it, 
so  sequestered  and  limited  is  its  growth.  This 

(45) 


is  the  newly-discovered  Weeping  Spruce  (P. 
Breweriana),  on  the  western  end  of  the  Sis- 
kiyou  Mountains,  in  splintered  rocks  of  the 
summit.  Remarkable  for  its  very  long,  droop- 
ing branchlets,  two  to  six  feet  long,  giving  the 
tree  the  appearance  of  a  weeping  willow. 
This  beautiful  tree  ought  to  be  in  cultivation, 
but  efforts  to  that  end  thus  far  have  proved 
unsuccessful. 

HEMLOCK     SPRUCES 

Space  admits  of  little  more  than  brief  allu- 
sions to  the  lovely  Hemlock  Spruces  (Tsuga), 
one  species  (Ts.  hetcrophylla)  in  the  northern 
coast  counties,  with  its  pea-green,  convex 
sprays  of  foliage,  decorated  on  the  border  with 
brown,  ovoid,  half-inch  cones;  the  other  (Ts. 
Mertensiana),  sub-alpine  and  scattered  among 
the  giants  from  end  to  end  of  the  Sierra,  its 
exceedingly  graceful  appearance,  with  depend- 
ing branches,  clothed  with  dark-green,  tufted 
foliage,  and  decorated  with  large,  purple  cones 
one  and  one-half  to  two  inches  long,  the  larg- 
est of  the  hemlocks.  This  royal  evergreen, 
sparsely  present  in  every  mass  of  forest  in 
the  High  Sierra,  always  claims  instant  atten- 
tion and  admiration  from  visitors  to  the  high 
regions,  and  not  inaptly  it  is  called  "Queen 
of  the  Sierra." 

In  concluding  this  introduction  to  Califor- 
nia spruces  the  principal  points  for  recogni- 
tion may  be  recapitulated,  as ;  spire-like  form 
of  tree,  with  graceful,  declining  limbs ;  the 
cones  terminal,  dependent,  and  remaining 
whole  at  maturity;  leaves  solitary  and  scat- 
tered, these  characters  strongly  contrasting 
with  the  next  group. 

THE    TRUE    FIRS 

This,  the  last  family  of  Pitch  Trees  to  be 
described,  is  the  most  marked  in  its  modes  ot 

(47) 


growth,  and  in  characters  of  the  cone,  of  any 
group  in  the  forests  of  the  Northern  Hemis- 
phere, and  hence  easily  detected. 

Should  the  reader,  being  anywhere  in  the 
Northern  Hemisphere,  see  in  the  forest,  even 
from  a  distance,  a  tree  perfectly  conical  in 
outline,  the  limbs  arising  in  horizontal  circles, 
the  branches  often  nearly  touching  each  other, 
forming  layers  or  platforms  prim  and  sym- 
metrical, the  broadest  layer  at  the  bottom, 
diminishing  in  breadth  regularly  to  the  top; 
or  should  you  be  able  to  see  only  the  top 
of  the  tree,  if  you  found  it  bearing  cones 
standing  out  bold  and  erect  upon  the  upper- 
most limbs,  you  may  be  sure  that  you  are 
beholdine  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  trees, 
the  true  Fir  (Abies'}.  Close  examination  re- 
veals other  characters.  The  cones  at  maturity 
fall  to  pieces,  the  scales  and  seeds  sailing  away 
on  the  wind,  leaving  the  brown  axis  on  the 
limb  to  weather  away  during  the  next  winter. 
You  never  find  a  fir  cone  on  the  ground,  unr 
less  it  has  been  cut  off  before  quite  ripe  by  a 
squirrel,  hence  many  persons,  even  lumber- 
men, are  unaware  that  they  bear  cones  at  all. 
Also,  the  leaves  are  peculiar ;  on  young  trees 
and  the  lower  limbs  of  older  ones  they  are 
arranged  in  two  ranks,  but  on  the  upper,  bear- 
ing limbs  they  all  turn  upward. 

The  principal  points  for  certain  identifica- 
tion of  a  fir  tree  are:  Prim,  regular  stratifi- 
cation of  the  limbs,  the  cones  erect  upon  the 
upper  limbs,  their  scales  deciduous  at  matu- 
rity, the  leaves  in  two  ranks,  right  and  left, 
along  the  branchlets  of  lower  limbs. 

THE    SIX    CALIFORNIA    FIRS 

There  are  in  California  six  species  of  fir, 
four  of  them  becoming  large  trees.  The 
largest  is  the  magnificent  Red  Fir  (Abies 

(49) 


magnified),  often  attaining  250  to  300  feet, 
with  a  diameter  of  8  to  12  feet,  by  far  the 
largest  fir  in  the  world,  and  the  cones,  cylin- 
drical and  erect,  like  green  parrots  perched 
upon  the  limbs,  are  six  to  eight  inches  high, 
the  largest  fir  cones  known.  Extending  from 
end  to  end  of  the  Sierra,  and  mingling  with 
the  Giant  Sequoia,  the  Douglas  Spruce,  and 
the  four  kingly  pines  described,  they  dominate 
certain  regions  of  the  middle  altitudes  of  the 
Sierra  by  sheer  force  of  numbers,  giving  a 
fir  character  to  the  forest  unexcelled  for 
grandeur,  enlisting  the  profound  admiration 
of  foreign  visitors  to  the  Sierra.  The  bark  of 
the  Red  Fir  becomes  very  thick,  and,  although 
black  outside,  it  is  madder-red  within,  readily 
detected  when  broken,  suggesting  the  name 
of  the  tree.  The  lumber  is  valued  for  vari- 
ous purposes. 

A  closely  related  species  is  the  Shasta  Fir 
(A.  Shaitensis),  large  trees  clothing  th-.- 
flanks  of  Mount  Shasta  and  some  of  the  high- 
est peaks  on  the  other  end  of  the  Sierra.  This 
tree  is  particularly  distinguished  by  its  higher 
locality  and  smaller  cones,  with  broad,  feather- 
like  bracts,  protruding  a  half  inch  or  more 
from  between  the  scales.  Soon  becoming  de- 
clined, they  nearly  conceal  the  dark  green 
cone  with  their  lighter  drapery. 

A  big  brother  of  these  two  is  the  White 
Fir  (A.  Lowiana),  found  at  lower  altitudes, 
and  with  small,  narrow,  naked  cones,  three  to 
four  inches  long;  bark  ckrk  outside,  but 
greenish  white  within. 

A  third  species  is  the  Lowland  Fir  (A. 
prandis),  a  noble  tree,  abundant  in  the  Puget 
Sound  region,  and  reaching  our  coast  in  the 
northern  counties ;  cones  two  and  one-half  to 
three  inches  long;  the  leaves  dark  green,  and 
shining  above,  white  lined  with  minute  breath 
ing  pores  below. 

(50) 


In  the  foot-hills  of  the  southern  part  of  the 
state  are  a  few  trees  of  the  Colorado  White 
Fir  (A.  concolor),  with  their  exceedingly 
whitened  bark,  leaves,  and  cones,  otherwise 
much  like  the  White  Fir  of  California,  with 
which  it  is  classed  by  some  authors. 

Last,  as  well  as  prettiest,  of  our  firs  let 
us  study  for  a  moment  the  most  singular  of 
all  our  trees,  the  Needle-cone  Fir  (A.  ven- 
usta),  of  the  Santa  Lucia  Mountains,  near  the 
south  boundary  line  of  Monterey  County.  It  is 
a  tree  with  its  limbs  so  short  that  the  tree  has 
the  appearance  of  a  narrow  pinnacle  or  column, 
often  fifty  or  more  feet  high.  The  cones  are 
oblong,  three  inches  long,  the  bracts  between 
the  scales  terminating  in  strong,  sharp  needles 
two  inches  long,  which,  curving  downward, 
inclose  the  cone  in  a  net-like  envelope.  The 
leaves,  too,  are  out  of  the  ordinary  state,  be- 
ing very  long — two  inches — and  one-eighth 
inch  wide,  the  largest  fir  leaves  known.  Very 
singularly  the  locality  of  this  fir  was  discov- 
ered by  the  earliest  explorer  of  this  coast, 
the  indefatigable  David  Douglas,  in  1830;  but 
so  deeply  secluded  are  they  in  the  confusing 
ramifications  of  the  Coast  Range,  and  so  steep 
— almost  inaccessible — are  the  mountain  cliffs 
to  which  they  cling,  that  few  persons  have 
seen  these  wonderful  trees,  not  above  a  dozen 
persons  all  told,  although  their  home  is  but 
a  few  miles  from  the  populous  metropolis  of 
the  Pacific  Slope,  and  quite  near  our  two  uni- 
versities, with  their  thousands  of  students. 

What  might  have  been  done  at  any  time 
all  these  years  was  developed  last  summer, 
when  a  botanist  of  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia explored  the  region  thoroughly,  and 
discovered  some  four  new  groves,  one  of 
them  quite  extensive,  of  this  exceedingly  lovely 
tree. 

(52) 


AMABILIS    FIR. 

Abies  Amabitis.     Forbes. 


CYCLALS 
CYPRESSES  AND  THEIR  ALLIES 

It  would  require  much  space  to  properly 
point  out  the  characters  of  the  large  class  of 
cypress-like  trees,  with  their  many  genera,  all 
with  their  leaf  and  cone  structure  usually  in 
pairs  and  opposite,  not  in  spirals  and  scat- 
tered, as  in  the  Pitch  Trees  described.  Their 
leaves  are  reduced  to  mere  small  scales,  tri- 
angular and  pointed ;  the  cones  are  small,  sel- 
dom more  than  an  inch  long,  the  scales  in 
pairs  and  in  alternate  series.  The  timber  of 
all  the  cypresses  is  but  slightly  resinous,  and 
is  fragrant,  often  pungent ;  includes  the  two 
American  Cedars,  one,  the  Red  Cedar,  or 
Shingle  Tree  (Thuya)  of  the  north,  with 
horizontally  flattened,  convex  sprays  of  foli- 
age and  minute,  half-inch,  upturned  cones, 
becoming  large  trees  at  the  north,  and  ex- 
tensively manufactured  into  shingles  of  the 
most  durable  character;  the  trunks,  usually 
swollen  at  the  base,  are  apt  to  be  hollow, 
hence  were  finely  adapted  for  use  by  the  abo- 
rigines in  making  their  canoes. 

The  other  pyramidal,  flat-branched,  thick- 
barked  tree  is  the  Incense  Cedar  (Libocedrus) 
of  the  middle  elevations  of  the  Sierra,  par- 
ticularly abundant  in  and  near  Yosemite  Val- 
ley; foliage  ,like  the  last,  but  the  cones  much 
larger,  yellowish,  and  pendant  from  the  ends 
of  the  fan-like,  usually  horizontal  sprays,  the 
two  larger  concave  scales  'lacing  each  other 
and  holding  the  four  seeds ;  the  timber  is  very 
fragrant  and  quite  durable,  hence  much  used 
for  fence  posts. 

The  true  Cypress  (Cuprcssus)  has  four 
species  in  California,  all  distinguished  by 
globular  and  very  knobby  cones.  But  two 
species  need  be  mentioned.  One,  the  Law- 

(54) 


INCENSE,   OR    POST    CEDAR. 

Libocedrus  decurrens,    Torrey. 


son  Cypress  (C.  Lawsoniana),  Is  one  of 
the  prettiest  trees  known  for  lawns  and  parks, 
and  very  popular.  A  small  grove  is  indig- 
enous to  the  head-waters  of  the  Sacramento 
River;  near  Mount  Shasta,  but  the  headquar- 
ters are  around  Coos  Bay,  Oregon,  giving  it 
the  name  of  Port  Orford  Cedar.  Its  lum- 
ber is  in  great  demand  for  interior  finishing, 
cabinet  work,  etc.  Distinguished  by  its  grace- 
ful form,  its  foliage  in  flattened,  convex 
sprays,  and  its  numerous  little  cones  the  size 
of  a  garden  pea. 

The  other  noted  Cypress  (C. -macrocarpa)  is 
native  to  Cypress  Point,  on  the  Monterey 
Coast,  where  the  ocean  storms  flatten  and 
sculpture  their  dense,  dark-green  foliage  in 
terraces,  or  completely  prostrate  the  tree. 
A  favorite  tree  for  making  hedge  rows  or 
wind-breaks ;  cones  the  largest  of  the  genus, 
often  over  an  inch  long,  with  prominent  bosses 
or  knobs. 

Descending  to  the  lowest,  earliest  stage  of 
development,  we  find  the  Junipers  (Junipcrus) 
with  only  minute  scales  for  leaves,  and  for 
fruit  a  small,  closed  berry,  with  only  vestiges 
of  the  scales,  and  juicy  with  turpentine,  the 
well-known  Juniper  Berry.  One  species  (/. 
occidentalism  growing  up  in  the  High  Sierra 
becomes  quite  a  large,  round-headed  tree  of 
great  age.  Another  (/.  Calif ornica}  is  a  de- 
graded, unnecessarily  sprawling  shrub,  found 
on  the  plains  and  slopes  of  southern  Califor- 
nia. 

What  a  world  of  arboreal  'development  be- 
tween this  tardy  Juniper  and  the  perfected, 
colossal,  royal  Sugar  Pine,  described, — the  king 
of  the  Pine  Tree  clan ! 


(56) 


Ifek 


MONTEREY    CYPRESS. 


CONSPECTUS 
PACIFIC  SLOPE  CONE-BEARERS. 

F A  SC  1C  TLA  RES,  Leaves  in  bundles. 

THE  PINKS,   Pinus,  Tournefort. 

WHITE-WOOD  PINFS- 

1.  Sugar  Pine. 

2.  Silver  Pine. 

3.  Mexican  Pine. 

4.  Rocky  Mt.  Pine. 

5.  Alpine  Pine. 

PLUME-BRANCHP:D  PINES. 

6.  Balfour  Pine.  P.  Kalfonriana,  Murray. 

7.  Bristle-cone  Pine.  I',  aristatn,  Engehn. 

TRUE  NUT  PINES. 

8.  Single-leaf  Pine.  P.  MonopJivlla,  Torr.  and  Frem. 

9.  Mexican  Pinon.  /'.  cet*l>roides,  Zucc. 

10.  New  Mexican  Pinon.         /'.  edit/is,  Engelm. 

11.  Parry  Pine.  />.  ,/nadrif^lia.  Parry. 

BROKEN-CONE  PINES. 

12.  Western  Yellow  Pine.       /'.  f>ondcrosa,  Lawson. 

H.  Rocky  Mt.  Yellow  Pine.  Variety  scofn/ornm,  Engelm. 

14.  leffrey  (or  Black)  Pine.      P.  Jeffrey^'Ore.  Coin." 

15.  Arizona  Yellow  Pine.         P.  Arizonica,  Engelin. 

16.  Mayr's  Pine.  P.  Mayriana,  Sudworth. 

17.  Apache  Pine.  P.  ApacJieca,  Lemnion. 

THIMBLE-CONE  PINES. 

18.  North  Shore  Pine.  P.  cotitorta,  London. 
Pigmy  Pine.  \'ariety  /'auiclica,   I.enmion. 

IP.  Tamarack  Pine.  P.  Marrayana,  "  Ore.  Coin." 

20.  Lodge-i>ole  Pine.  Variety  tenuis,  Lemnion. 

HEAVY-CONE  PINES. 

21.  Big-cone  Pine.  P.  Conlteri,  Don. 

22.  Gray-leaf  Pine.  P.  Sabiniana,  Dougl. 

23.  Torrey  (or  I.one)  Pine.     /'.   Tnrreyana,  Parry. 

PERSISTENT-CONE  PINES. 

24.  Monterey  Pine.  /'.  ractiata,  Don. 

25.  Narrow-cone  Pine.  P.  attennata,  Lemmon. 

26.  Swamp-loving  Pine.  P.  muricata ,  Don. 

27.  Chihuahua  Pine.  1\  CliilinaJiuana,  Engelm. 

TUFT-LEAVED  TREES 
TRUE  LARCHES,  Larix,  Link. 

i.  Western  Larch.  L.  occidentalis.  Nuttall. 

a.   Woolly  Larch.  L.  Lynllii,  Parlat. 

SO  LIT  A  RES,  Single-leaved  Trees. 
PENDENTES,    Pendent  fruited     Trees. 

TRUE  SPRUCES,  Picea^  Link. 

1.  White  Spruce.  P.  laxa,  Sargent. 

2.  Blue  Spruce.  P.  pnngens,  Engelm. 

3.  Engelmann  Spruce.  P.  Enffeltnanni,  Engelm. 

4.  Tide-land  Spruce.  P.  Sitchensis,  Carriere. 

5.  Weeping  Spruce.  P.  Kreiveriana,  Watson. 


(59) 


HEMLOCK  SPRUCE,    Tsuga,  Carriere. 

1.  Western  Hemlock.  Ts.  heterophylla,  Sargent. 

2.  Sub-alpine  Hemlock.         Ts.  Mertensietna    Carriere 

3    Hooker  Hemlock.  Variety  Hookeriana,  Lemmon. 

FEATHER-CONE  SPRUCES,  Fseudotsuga,  Carriere. 

i.   Douglas  Spruce  7V.  taxifoli   ,  Britton. 

Cork-bark  Spruce.  Variety  xuberosa,  Lemmon. 

2    Big-cone  Spruce.  Ps   wacrocarpa,  Lemmon. 

EREQTES,  Upright-fruited   Trees. 
THE  TRUE  FIRS,  Abies,  Link. 
NORTHERN  FIRS,  OREGON,  WASHINGTON,  ETC. 

i.    Noble  Fir.  A.  nobilis,  Lindley. 

-_>.  Amabilis  Fir.  A.  amabilis,  Forbes. 

3.  Lowland  Fir.  A.  grandis,  Lindley. 

4.  Alpine  Fir.  A.  lasiocarpa,  Nuttall. 

CALIFORNIA  FIRS. 

5.  California  White  Fir.         . /.  Lowiana,  Murray. 

6.  Magnificent  (or  Red)  Fir.  A.  magnijica,  Murray. 

7.  Shasta  Red  Fir.  .1.  Shastensix.  Lemmon. 

8.  Needle-cone  Fir.  A.  vennsta,  Koch. 

EASTERN  AND  SOUTHERN  FIRS. 

9.  Colorado  White  Fir.          A.  Concolor,  Parry. 

10.  Arizona  Cork  Fir.  A.  Arizonica,  Merriam. 

TAXODIADS,  Sequoia,  Endlicher. 
i.  Coast  Redwood.  S.  sempervirens,  Endlicher. 

2  Sierra  Hig  Tree.  5.  Washingtoniana.  Suduorth 

CYPRESSES  AND   THEIR  ALLIES. 

ARBORVIT^:,    Thuya,  Linn. 

1.  Pacific  Red  Cedar.  T.  plicata,  Lambert. 

INCENSE  CEDAR,  Liboredrus,  Endlicher. 
i     In-ense  or  Post  Cedar.     /..  decitrrens,  Nuttall. 

FLAT-BRANCHED  CYPRESS,  Chamczcvparis.  Spach 

T.  Alaska  Cypress.  Ch.  Nittkatensis,  Spach. 

2.  Lawson  Cypress.  f/i    Lawsoniana,  Porlat. 

TRUE  CYPRESS,  Cupressus,  Lindley. 

1.  Monterey  Cypress.  C.  wacrocarpa,  Hartwegf. 

2.  North  Coast  Cypress.         C.  C,  oven  tana,  (Gordon. 

3  McNab's  Cypress.  C.  Macnalnana,  Murray. 

SOUTHERN  CYPRESSES. 

4.  C.uadaloupe  Cypress.          C.  Gnadalonpensis,  Watson. 

5  Arizona  Cypress.  C.  Arizonica,  (ireene. 

6  Leinmon  Cypress.  C.  bonita,  Lemmon. 

THE  JUNIPERS,  Junifierus.  Linn, 

i    Western   Juniper.  .?.  occidentals,  «ooker. 

2.  California  Juniper.  y.  Calif  arnica,  Carriere. 

3  C.reat  Basin  Juniper.  y.  Utahensis,  Lemmon. 

4  Rocky  Mt.  Juniper.  y.  scopularum,  Sargent. 

5  Wyoming  Juniper.  ¥.  Knightii,  Aven  Nelson. 

6  Southern  Juniper-  y.  monaspenna,  Sargent. 

7  All'gator  Juniper.  y   pachyphla'a,  Engelm. 

TAX  ADS,   THE  PZItS~       /JAf*, 
TRUE  YEW    Taxus,  IJnn. 

i     Pacific  Yew  T  brevifolia,  Nuttall. 

FALSE  NUTMEG    Tumion,  Rafinesque 

i    California  Nutmeg.  T   California™.  Greene. 

(   60) 


ELEMENTS    OE    EORESTRY 


WITH    SUGGESTIONS. 

The  object  of  Forestry  is  not  to  preserve 
intact  the  virgin  forests,  and  thus  deprive 
man  of  the  use  of  its  products,  such  as  wood 
required  for  fuel,  the  making  of  charcoal, 
building  of  vessels,  houses,  carriages,  fences, 
etc.,  its  use  for  railroad  ties,  telegraph  poles, 
mining  purposes,  bark  for  tanning,  and  the 
manufacture  of  numberless  large  and  small 
wares  for  the  use  and  convenience  of  man. 
It  designs  to  teach  the  best  way  to  glean  rich 
and  ample  harvests  of  lumber,  or  even  to  re- 
move large  areas  of  forests  where  the  lands 
are  fertile,  accessible,  and  well  adapted  to 
agriculture,  for  clearing  of  roads,  for  the  lay- 
ing out  of  towns  and  cities. 

Its  design  is  to  protect  and  save  the  boun- 
teous rainfall  by  maintaining  the  forests  on 
high  mountain  slopes,  because  the  rainfall  is 
greatest  there — there  the  rivers  take  their  rise. 
Remove  the  forests,  and  the  waters  drain  off 
so  rapidly  that  dangerous  floods  occur,  caus- 
ing avalanches  and  mountain  slides,  sweeping 
everything  before  them,  taking  away  vast 
quantities  of  the  real  forest  floor,  leaving  an 
irreparable,  barren,  rocky  waste,  a  menace  to 
man  and  beast,  causing  more  frequent,  earlier, 
and  heavier  frosts,  droughts,  sudden  changes 
in  temperature,  severe  hail-storms — all  work- 
ing constant  injury  to  the  'diligent  bread- 
winner on  the  lower  levels.  The  people  of 
California  may  take  a  hint  from  the  interest 
in  forestry  in  the  east.  There  is  seldom  a 
lack  of  ra'infall  there,  and  nature  provided  it 

(61) 


with  an  abundance  of  timber.  Settlement  has 
cleared  off  a  great  deal  of  the  wood.  The 
consequence  is  that  water  runs  off  so  fast  as  to 
cause  disastrous  floods  in  many  localities. 
Many  people  will  remember  the  tragedy  of 
Johnstown,  Pa.,  in  May,  1889,  when  thousands 
of  lives  were  lost  by  the  giving  way  of  the  dam 
from  the  rush  of  waters.  "The  Johnstown 
Water  Company  has  bought  the  watershed  of 
the  Conemaugh  Creek,  and  propose  to  replant 
in  forest  trees  so  that  it  will  not  pour  down 
devastating  floods.  The  government  will  fur- 
nish the  expert  work,  and  perhaps  some  of 
the  material  for  reforesting  the  region." 

Again,  forestry  designs  to  show  that  the 
reckless  denuding  of  forests  by  contractors 
and  lumbermen,  wood  choppers  and  fire-fiends, 
can  by  proper  and  fair  means  be  avoided. 

Forestry  teaches  how  to  plant  and  cultivate 
trees,  the  suitable  trees  for  reforesting  and 
for  ornamental  purposes ;  the  particular  species 
of  trees  adapted  to  certain  kinds  of  soil  and 
elevation ;  it  points  out  the  enemies  to  tree 
growth,  both  animate  and  inanimate,  and  how 
to  g-et  rid  of  them. 

Forestry  stimulates  patriotism — regard  for 
country  and  laudable  pride  that  it  be  adorned 
in  its  richest  garments  for  use  and  beauty. 

It  is  the  duty  of  all  patriotic  women  as  well 
as  men  to  assist  in  awakening  an  interest  in 
this  saviour  of  the  country  if  we  would  not 
be  held  responsible  for  its  weakness  and  dec- 
adence. •» 

"Why  should  woman  be  interested  in  the 
subject  of  forestry?"  has  been  asked.  Why 
should  she  not  be  interested  in  forestry,  since 
she  enjoys  the -benefits  with  man  and  suffers 
with  him  in  the  loss  of  the  trees? 

Women  can  exert  the  most  powerful  influ- 
ence to  advance  this  noble  work  by  becoming 
well  versed  in  the  subject.  A  preparation 


must  come  through  study  if  women   hope  to 
effect  anything  worthy  their  effort. 

Let  us  learn  something  about  trees — how 
they  grow;  the  names  of  different  species  as 
an  introduction  to  becoming  better  acquainted, 
especially  those  that  clothe  the  high  moun- 
tain slopes,  where  grand  forest  trees  have 
room  to  lift  up  their  protecting  branches  above 
the  little  springs  and  rivulets — then  follow 
the  different  families  of  trees  to  the  lower 
levels  and  out  upon  the  plains;  learn  not  only 
their  names,  but  all  possible  about  them,  their 
habits  of  growth,  how  they  mature  their  fruit, 
their  simple  needs,  etc.  A  close  acquaintance 
will  ripen  into  a  real,  not  affected,  love,  and 
when  we  become  really  intelligent  tree-lovers, 
we  shall  more  and  more  desire  their  protec- 
tion, seeking  it  most  earnestly  in  every  pos- 
sible way.  exerting  our  influence  in  their  be- 
half with  voters,  tax-payers,  owners  of  forests, 
wood-cutters,  lumbermen,  and  lumber  mer- 
chants,— all,  in  fact,  who  have  to  do  with  the 
grand  forests  in  any  way. 

DESTRUCTION      OF     FORESTS. 

Forests  have  been  unwisely  removed  or  de- 
stroyed from  several  large  regions  of  the  old 
world,  notably  in  Italy,  the  Spanish  Penin- 
sula, France,  portions  of  Germany,  and  the 
two  Scandinavian  Peninsulas.  These  regions 
were  once  clothed  with  dense  forests  of  large 
trees. 

"If  nature  is  let  alone,  she  will  cover  any 
portion  of  the  earth,  where  vegetable  life  is 
possible,  with  the  particular  kinds  of  vegeta- 
tion best  fitted  to  grow  under  the  existing 
conditions  of  soil,  heat,  light,  and  moisture," 
writes  an  eminent  authority.  But  nature  is 
not  allowed  to  do  her  normal  work  unhindered. 
Many  conditions  and  objects  are  inimical  to 
the  growth  of  trees,  such  as  parasites  and 

(63) 


epiphites  (which  might  be  denominated  inani- 
mate tramps),  insects  and  animals,  but  chiefly 
man  himself. 

It  is  a  pitiful  story,  that  of  the  destruction 
of  the  forests  of  Spain.  Madrid,  its  capital, 
was  located  on  a  beautiful  plateau  in  the  midst 
of  a  magnificent  forest,  well  watered  by  large 
and  numerous  fresh-water  lakes.  The  Span- 
iard, however,  does  not  love  trees,  in  fact, 
seems  to  hate  them,  seizing  every  opportunity 
to  destroy  them.  The  consequence  is  that 
the  Madrid  of  to-day  is  a  magnificent  city, 
to  be  sure,  but  situated  on  a  hot,  parched,  and 
barren  waste,  almost  a  desert,  its  lakes  long 
since  dried  up,  the  springs,  once  in  adjoining 
hills,  exhausted,  the  water  supply  obtained  at 
great  cost  from  their  distant  Sierras.  Other 
cities  of  southern  Europe,  through  thought- 
less deforestation,  are  nearly  as  badly  off,  ow- 
ing to  lack  of  shade  and  water. 

The  Spanish  explorers  of  the  western  con- 
tinent brought  with  them  the  bad  custom  of 
tree-destruction.  The  original  city  of  the 
Montezumas  was  situated  like  Madrid  in  a 
lovely,  picturesque,  well-watered  forest  on  the 
plateau  of  Anahuac.  The  Spaniards  located 
their  capital,  Mexico,  on  the  same  site,  and 
began  at  once  the  destruction  of  its  surround- 
ing forests,  and  a  second  Madrid  is  the  result. 
(The  writer  has  seen  in  Arizona  the  Mexican 
turn  off  the  trail  and  ride  out  several  yards 
to  strike  his  hatchet  into'  a  tree  or  cut  down 
a  young-  sapling  wantonly.  .A  Mexican  sel- 
dom plants  a  forest  tree.) 

California  is  quite  like  Italy  as  regards 
latitude,  and  is  sometimes  called  New  Italy, 
with  its  sunny,  blue  skies  and  equable  climate. 
The  effect  from  the  destruction  of  Italy's  for- 
ests should  sound  the  note  of  alarm.  Ignore 
the  subject  as  we  may,  the  loss  of  the  forests 
has  a  retroactive  effect  upon  the  people,  and 

(64) 


the  climatic  conditions  best  suited  for  the 
growth  of  the  trees  are  also  best  suited  for  the 
growth  and  development  of  man.  It  is  note- 
worthy that,  in  countries  where  forests  have. 
been  laid  waste  without  renewal  by  man  or 
nature,  the  inhabitants  have  gradually  deteri- 
orated. 

RESTORATION     OF     FORESTS. 

Several  governments  of  Europe,  taking  the 
alarm,  have  attempted  to  check  wanton  de- 
struction, and  have  set  about  reforesting.  The 
expense  at  the  beginning  is  enormous,  but  al- 
ready several  distinct  forests  are  so  well  man- 
aged that  they  are  yielding  a  good  government 
revenue. 

America's  lesson  in  economics  should  be 
that  it  is  far  better  to  save  forests,  especially 
at  the  headwaters,  far  up  on  the  mountains, 
on  middle  slopes,  and  lower  levels;  to  judi- 
ciously regulate  the  removal  wherever  neces- 
sary, than  for  the  government  at  length  to 
set  about  the  task  of  reforesting.  Where  our 
government  has,  in  times  past,  sold  and  almost 
•given  away  thousands  of  acres  of  forest  lands, 
it  should  condemn  and  repurchase,  and  what 
she  still  holds  she  should  zealously  guard  as  a 
sacred  trust  for  her  future  well-being. 

In  an  address  by  Dr.  Gifford  Pinchot,  he 
declared  that,  in  order  to  develop  a  well- 
sustained  forestry  policy,  much  depends  upon 
the  work  of  educated  specialists,  and  in  it  the 
specialists  need  to  be  supported  by  an  intelli  - 
gent  public  sentiment.  Now,  this  intelligent 
public  sentiment  must  come  first  through  cer- 
tain lines  of  study,  already  referred  to. 

Forestry  is  fast  gaining  the  attention  of  the 
people,  and  none  too  soon,  for  the  logger, 
shake-maker,  and  millmen  have  long  been  at 
work  unhindered. 

The  whole  people  should  be  aroused  and  en- 

(65) 


listed  in  the  cause  of  forest-saving,  of  wise, 
judicious  tree  cutting,  and  the  establishment 
of  a  proper  forest  policy  by  the  states.  First 
become  well  informed  upon  the  subject,  then 
help  to  educate  others. 

The  various  Federation  clubs  might  devote 
an  afternoon  occasionally  to  the  subject  of 
forestry,  taking  up  for  discussion  or  study 
some  specified  topic  through  a  given  paper  or 
lecture.  The  clubs  might  give  assistance  to 
municipal  officers  in  developing  taste  in  regard 
to  planting  trees  in  parks  and  along  streets  ; 
they  might  influence  legislators  to  urge  the 
general  government  to  retake  possession  of 
the  great  forests  of  the  country;  they  might 
arrange  for  holding  meetings  at  the  centers 
of  population  to  be  addressed  by  competent 
speakers,  preferably  specialists  in  forestry; 
they  might  recommend  the  procurement  of 
books  upon  forestry  for  close  study  of  the 
trees,  their  names,  habits,  and  value. 

Teachers  might  introduce,  in  nature  studies, 
talks  upon  trees,  and  during  the  children's 
walks  to  and  from  school  the  receptive  mind 
and  quick  eyes  of  the  child  would  discover . 
much  about  the  habit  and  growth  of  trees  by 
the  wayside. 

The  observance  of  Arbor  Day  should  be 
encouraged  by  the  planting  of  one  tree  by 
each  child  at  specified  places,  when  the  local- 
ity is  favorable  or  convenient,  and  cause  it 
to  grow.  The  child  keeps  watch  and  guard 
over  the  pet  tree,  waters  \nd  nurtures  it,  and 
so  learns  while  young  more  intimately  the 
needs  and  designs  of  forestry. 

To  study  and  gain  a  familiar  knowledge  of 
the  trees  of  our  country  is  to  hold  the  key 
to  the  treasures  of  field  and  wood. 

MRS.  J.  G.  LEMMON, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Forestry 

for  the  California  Federation  of  Women's 
Clubs. 

(66) 


Books  and  publications  suggested  for  use  in  the  study 
of  Forestry.  By  the  Forestry  Committee  of  the  California 
Federation  of  Women's  Clubs. 

MRS.  J.  G.  LEMMON,  Chairman. 

HANDBOOK  WEST-AMERICAN   CONE-BEARERS 
With  Appendix 
J.  G.  LEMMON 

4th  edition,  116  Pages  and  17  Full-page  Illustrations.    Brief, 

Concise  Descriptions  and  Helpful  Classifications 

PRICE,  $1.00 

OAKS   OF  PACIFIC   SLOPE 

With  Biographical  Notes  and  Classifications 

J.  G.  LEMMON 

PRICE,  25  CENTS 

HOW   TO   TELL  THE  TREES 

With  Forest  Endowment  for  Introduction 

J.  G.  LEMMON 
And  Addenda  by  Mrs.  LEMMON.    16  Full-page  Illustrations 

PRICE,   50  CENTS 
For  the  above  publications  apply,  with  money-order,  to 

J.  G.  LEMMON,  or  MRS.  J.  G.  LEMMON 
5985  Telegraph  Ave.  Oakland,  Cal. 

ILL.  PRIMER   OF    FORESTRY 
GIFFORD  PINCHOT,  Washington,  D.  C. 

FORESTRY   FOR   FARMERS 

B.  E.  FERNOW,  Cornell  University,  N.  Y. 

PUBLICATIONS   ON    FORESTRY 

Bureau  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

THE   FORESTER 

A  Monthly  Magazine.      American  Forest  Association, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

FOREST   TREES 

Two  Illustrated  Volumes,  by  DR.  C.  I.  NEWHALL 
2326  Fulton   St.,  Berkeley,  Cal. 

A  WORK   ON   FORESTRY 
By  ABBOT  KINNEY,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

"WATER  AND  FOREST" 
A  Serial  Journal,  Published  in  the  Interest  of  Western 

California,  at  San  Francisco,  Cal.  ^^s^^''"'' 

OUTLINES    OF    FOREST^V-^ 

E.J.HOUSTOK      f  UNIVERSIT 


UNIVEESITY  OP  CALIFORNIA  LIBKAEY, 
BERKELEY 


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